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Hungary has drawn a new line in the sand in its ongoing competition with Austria over the Balkans, which is now focusing on energy companies.

The Hungarian oil company MOL made a serious offer Sept. 15 to buy the partially state-owned Croatian oil company INA. MOL, which already owns 25 percent of INA, has offered $1.76 billion for the 31 percent of INA that is publicly owned. The Croatian government may also consider selling part of its 44 percent stake in INA to MOL as part of the effort to give the Hungarian firm a majority stake in the company.

The announcement of the offer came on the heels of MOL’s successful defense of a hostile takeover bid by the Austrian energy company OMV. With this failed merger, the field was open for the continuing Austro-Hungarian competition over the Balkans, a natural state of affairs — historically and geographically — between Vienna and Budapest.


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