As part of its business plan for 2019, the Ina oil and gas company is planning to move its oil refining operations to the refinery in the coastal city of Rijeka, while the refinery in the central Croatian city of Sisak would be converted into an industrial centre, the company said on Wednesday.

The 2019 business plan was approved by Ina’s supervisory board last week, and by the management board today.

The company’s refining and marketing activities have so far generated some billion kuna (€135 million) in losses annually on average, Ina said, announcing a new refining and marketing programme which includes focusing all crude oil refining activities to the refinery in Rijeka, and converting the Sisak refinery into an industrial centre.

Thanks to investing into both new and existing processing units in Rijeka, which, totalling at some 4 billion kuna (€539 million), is the largest single investment project in the history of the company, Rijeka refinery has the potential to become a top-quality European refinery, the company said, adding that the new processing units should be operational in 2023.

It is necessary to convert the Sisak refinery complex from the non-profitable refining operation into a sustainable alternative industrial centre, Ina said, adding that the alternatives would include project developments for bio-components and petrochemicals refining operations, as well as a modern logistics centre, renewable energy production, and other sustainable and economically viable activities.

The company also plans to retain as many workers as required by actual business needs, saying that “no collective lay-offs” were planned for next year.

The Hungarian company Mol, which owns a 49 percent stake in Ina, has had plans to shut down the Sisak refinery for years.

“Ina will be a responsible employer and it will maintain a constructive dialogue with its partners. We are prepared to look into maintaining the current salaries and material rights for all employees for a set period, and offer them other jobs within the company, re-qualification or severance pay high above the Croatian average,” Ina said.

Commenting on the decision to transform the Sisak refinery, Energy Minister Tomislav Coric said on Thursday that, after all the analyses conducted by the company management, it was concluded that “simply put, this is the road Ina needs to take.”

Fasimon: We want a change which will secure Ina’s future

Chairman of Ina’s Management Board, Sandor Fasimon, told N1 today the company has no plans to leave Sisak.

“Sisak is a valuable industrial location. It can be an industrial centre. We can have bitumen production (there), it will definitely be a logistics hub, and there are other options – biofuel, petrochemicals, and so on,” Fasimon said.

He confirmed that there would be no collective lay-offs in 2019, adding that new job openings were possible in the long term.

We are the biggest company there, and we will stay the biggest company there, he said.

“This change is not just for the sake of it. This change is for the future of Ina, we want to be the future,” he said.

(€1 = 7.4 kuna)

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