On July 19, Hungarian-based MOL entered into a partnership with Kazmunaigaz E&P (Exploration & Production, the upstream subsidiary of the national company Kazmunaigaz) to develop the North Karpovsky oil and gas block in Kazakhstan. Kazmunaigaz E&P’s CEO, Alik Aidarbayev, commented that MOL was selected for... MORE

Hungary has raised some serious questions about the viability of the Nabucco gas pipeline project and the performance of the project company’s management. The Hungarian critique has strongly reverberated in all quarters: at the EU in Brussels, among the Nabucco partner-governments, within the project consortium... MORE

The European Commission has pronounced against the Croatian government’s changes to the law on ownership of INA, the Croatian oil and gas company. The changes would have reserved for the government alone the right to own 49 percent or more of INA’s shares. The government’s... MORE

The regime of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has been put under serious pressure in recent days. On September 29-30, a European Union summit in Warsaw condemned Belarus’ human rights record and demanded the immediate release and full pardon of all political prisoners, most of which... MORE

The September 29-30, Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw was another typically EU empty diplomatic soirée. The Viktor Yanukovych administration has ignored Western criticism of political repression and the EU has put all its eggs into the Ukraine basket to show success in the Eastern Partnership,... MORE

In a last-minute reversal, Croatia has decided to request the European Commission’s opinion on legal amendments that would bar Hungarian MOL from acquiring more than 49 percent of ownership shares in Croatia’s oil and gas company, INA. The Croatian government’s September 29 meeting had been... MORE

Since December 2010, the Belarusian leadership has abandoned any pretences of support for a democratic society, pursuing its internal enemies with unprecedented determination. At the same time, under pressure as a result of some internal unrest and economic difficulties, it has tried to exploit the... MORE

On June 24-26, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stopped in Budapest with great fanfare. The Hungarian government, then closing out its term as rotating presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, celebrated Mr. Wen’s call on the Pearl of the Danube as an important coup for... MORE

Within days after the European Commission had cleared Croatia to join the EU (Financial Times, June 22), political harassment of Hungarian MOL has intensified in Croatia. Russian interests are conveniently using local allies to wrest operational control of INA, the Croatian oil and gas company,... MORE

Hungary’s government has successfully completed negotiations with the Russian government and Surgutneftegaz about the latter’s exit from Hungary. The government is purchasing Surgut’s 21.2 percent stake in the oil and gas company MOL, Hungary’s largest business entity and Central European oil-refining leader. Surgut, a Kremlin-connected... MORE