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Representatives of Croatia’s INA-Industrija nafte (INA) and Hungary’s MOL Group have concluded a series of meetings with a high-level delegation from Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC) to discuss the possible restart of INA’s oil and gas operations in Syria.
The meetings, held over a three days at MOL headquarters in Budapest and INA headquarters in Zagreb, focused on evaluating options for reactivating INA’s concessions in Syria, where operations were suspended in 2012, MOL said in a press statement.
The Hungarian energy giant holds a controlling interest of approximately 49.1 percent in INA.
Earlier this year, INA and SPC established a joint technical team to assess the feasibility of restarting operations. On May 6, a joint expert team reviewed infrastructure conditions and field assessments. The team will determine the technical and safety prerequisites for reactivation of INA’s operations and agree on a strategic roadmap for future cooperation.
Both sides described the discussions as constructive and forward-looking, according to the MOL statement.
The SPC delegation was led by CEO Yousef Qiblawy, accompanied by Zuhair Sawwan, Director of Development and Exploration, and Hisam Suleymanelsalih, Vice President of Gas Development.
As part of the visit, SPC representatives toured the LNG terminal on Krk Island in Croatia.
Zsuzsanna Ortutay, President of the Management Board of INA said returning to Syria remains complex due regulatory, legal, commercial and operational points that remain to be addressed.
"We remain dedicated to completing this process,” said Ortutay.
Zsombor Marton, Executive Vice President of MOL Group Exploration & Production said Syria had previously been a key part of the group’s international upstream portfolio. By 2011, INA’s Syrian concessions were producing around 37,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
“By the time our operations were suspended in 2012, we had invested approximately $1.1 billion in the country, and the new gas processing plant at the Hayan gas field was built as part of these investments,” Marton said.
(Writing by Dennis Daniel; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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