Croatian oil and gas company INA and its largest shareholder, Hungarian energy company MOL, have concluded a series of talks with the Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC) on exploring options for the re-activation of INA’s oil and gas operations in Syria, MOL said on Friday. INA suspended operations in the Arab country 14 years ago due to the political turmoil there.
"We are pleased with the progress we have made in our discussions with the Syrian side and are encouraged by the constructive spirit in which these talks are being conducted," Zsuzsanna Ortutay, CEO of INA, said in a press release by MOL, following a visit by the management of the Syrian company to Budapest and Zagreb.
A return to Syria after more than a decade is a complex undertaking – there are still points that need to be addressed, including regulatory, legal, commercial and operational matters, as INA and MOL remain dedicated to completing this process, she added.
Earlier this year, INA and SPC established a joint technical team to assess the feasibility of INA resuming operations on its Syrian concessions. The team will determine the technical and safety prerequisites for reactivation of INA’s operations and agree on a strategic roadmap for future cooperation.
"Syria was previously a cornerstone of our international portfolio: we successfully discovered new hydrocarbon fields and brought them into production," Zsombor Marton, executive vice president of MOL Group for exploration and production, said. By 2011, oil and gas production in INA’s Syrian concessions had reached 37,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day. By the time its operations were suspended in 2012, INA and MOL had invested $1.1 billion (930 million euro) in Syria, including an investment in a new gas processing plant at the Hayan gas field, he added.
INA's shares traded 1.89% lower at 520 euro on Friday on the Zagreb bourse.
(SeeNews, May 8, 2026)
