Croatia will begin preparatory talks and high-level negotiations with Hungary to resolve the dispute between MOL and INA. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković addressed the issue on Wednesday in Dubrovnik at the “Three Seas Initiative” summit in response to a journalist’s question. The U.S. court recently ruled again in favor of MOL in a legal dispute between the two parties.
The legal dispute stems from a 2009 agreement in the gas sector between MOL and the Croatian government. MOL is convinced that Croatia failed to fulfill its contractual obligations, prompting the Hungarian oil and gas company to initiate arbitration proceedings in 2013, which it won in 2022.
Amir H. Ali, a judge in the U.S. District Court in Washington, recently ruled in favor of MOL once again. According to the ruling, Croatia must pay $286 million to the Hungarian oil company. The same judge had already rejected Croatia’s appeal in 2025 against the 2022 ruling, which awarded MOL compensation of $183.94 million.
The amount has risen steadily since then due to arbitration costs and interest: initially, it rose to about $200 million; in March, it stood at $236 million; and it currently stands at $286 million.
On the occasion of the Three Seas Initiative Summit, I joined the @questCNN program on @cnni from Dubrovnik.
I highlighted the strong attendance at the Business Forum, with around 1,600 participating entrepreneurs and companies. Alongside 🇪🇺 member states, our international… pic.twitter.com/0IuBp9JuWA
— Andrej Plenković (@AndrejPlenkovic) April 29, 2026
Andrej Plenković explained that the legal dispute between MOL and Croatia was inherited from the previous government, which is why the cabinet is striving to exhaust all available legal remedies. He added:
Zagreb is seeking preliminary talks followed by high-level negotiations with Hungary, which could mark a “fresh start” in relations between MOL and INA and provide a solution to the outstanding issues.
The Croatian prime minister described the privatization of INA as one of the Croatian State’s greatest strategic mistakes. He emphasized that in his view, a similar privatization of national companies in the energy sector must not be repeated.
Via MTI, Featured image: Joadl/Wikimedia Commons
