October 15 (SeeNews) - Croatian oil and gas company INA denied media reports that it had agreed to sell to its main owner, Hungary’s MOL, a 25% stake in an oil and gas concession in Syria, saying it has not accepted MOL's offer yet.
“There is still no decision for cooperation as INA has not yet accepted MOL's official offer, but we can confirm that the two partners intend to cooperate in the Syrian project,” INA said in a statement posted on its website late on Wednesday.
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Earlier the same day, Croatian daily Jutarnji List reported that INA has agreed to sell a 25% stake in its Syrian concession to MOL for 195 million euro ($291 million).
“The data for the stake and its price published by media are absolutely incorrect,” INA said in the statement.
MOL owns 47.15% of INA and the government in Zagreb holds a stake of some 44%.
INA explores and drills for oil and gas in Croatia, Angola, Egypt, Syria and Iran. It owns two refineries in Croatia and runs the biggest domestic fuel retail chain.
INA’s shares, which are traded on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, closed up 1.67% at 1.803.24 kuna ($371/249 euro) on Wednesday.
(1 euro=7.2566 Croatian kuna)