Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Davor Filipovic said on Wednesday that INA had secured sufficient quantities of oil products for the period while its oil refinery in Rijeka was out of operation, and that the energy system was functioning without any impediments.

“INA has procured the necessary products, sufficient quantities of diesel and petrol have been secured and we can see that the energy system is functioning without any problems. We expect the refinery to start working as announced by INA, in two to three months,” Filipovic said at a conference on energy prices and energy supply security in 2023, organised by the Jutarnji List daily.

Asked if he was worried by the new methodology reportedly applied by INA to assess the performance of the Rijeka refinery, under which its status would change from one of a profit-making to one of a loss-making company, Filipovic said that he did not notice that before its temporary closure the refinery had been generating losses but had rather operated well owing also to high refining margins.

As for the imminent ban on the import of diesel from Russia on 5 February and its impact on the market, the minister said that last week and a part of the current week showed that prices had “edged up” but that that was not worrying.

The planned cessation of operation of the processing plants in the Rijeka refinery started in early November 2022, and it is expected to last until early April this year. Meanwhile, work is under way on the construction of new units, of which the most important one is a unit for the processing of heavy residues, and on the reconstruction of the existing plants.

INA is investing more than €531 million in the upgrading of the Rijeka Oil Refinery.