Jutarnji list: MOL filed a new lawsuit against Croatia

Hungarian MOL has initiated another international arbitration against Croatia, claiming that the Croatian Government unjustly raised the hydrocarbon compensation from 2011 to 2015, writes Jutarnji list.

They state that the increase in hydrocarbon compensation has caused financial damage to MOL, and they are now seeking compensation from Croatia in the international proceedings.

There is currently no official information regarding the new MOL arbitration initiated against Croatia, and the only indication that we are in a new dispute with MOL is the ‘Call for Expression of Interest for Representation of the Republic of Croatia in the case MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Plc. c/a Republic of Croatia – commercial arbitration’, which was published on November 11 on the official website of the State Attorney’s Office.

– Lawyers and law firms with experience in representing states in international commercial arbitrations are invited to express their interest by November 16, 2022, for representing the Republic of Croatia in the case MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Plc. c/a Republic of Croatia, for which the Republic of Croatia has received a Notice of Arbitration in accordance with Article 3 of the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The dispute relates to a claim concerning compensation for hydrocarbon exploitation – states the brief call from DORH.

Unofficially, it is learned that this is a lawsuit that MOL has already filed against Croatia as part of the proceedings initiated in December 2013 before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington.

In that dispute, MOL claimed that Croatia violated the Energy Charter Treaty and the rights it guarantees to MOL as a foreign investor. Croatia lost that dispute, and in July of this year, the Government received a final ruling, writes Jutarnji list journalist Ivanka Toma.