The paper said the Croatian government would not accept a proposal on INA’s management model by supervisory board chairman Sinisa Petrovic, and that MOL had insisted its shareholders’ agreement with the government was still valid, though it was open to modifying the contract.

MOL called the leak “improper” and “manipulative”, adding that the source of the leak was “probably” the Croatian economy ministry, but “certainly not” MOL. MOL said that the fragments published were misleading to the general public, “therefore under the current circumstances MOL Group calls on the Ministry of Economy to disclose the full transcripts of all five negotiation rounds”.

MOL negotiators met with representatives of the Croatian government in Zagreb last Friday. Afterward, MOL said “no progress” had been made. MOL holds a little less than 50% of INA’s shares. The state of Croatia owns about 45%.

A perceived lack of investment in the company by MOL and the state’s failure to take over INA’s loss-making gas business, as is said to be stipulated in a shareholders agreement, have been sources of tension between the two stakeholders.