Hungarian oil and gas company will focus on investments at its Croatian unit INA and a consolidation of existing upstream and downstream projects this year, CEO Zsolt Hernadi said in an interview with Reuters on Friday.

MOL and the Croatian government will have to find a solution to boost capital in INA by March 31, Mr Hernadi told Reuters.

"There are some possible options under evaluation, like a direct capital increase, a convertible bond or selling a fixed asset as an alternative. This latter one seems, so far, the least probable option but there is no formal decision yet," he said.

MOL owns 47pc of INA. The Croatian state holds 44pc.

Mr Hernadi also said MOL would be able to finance planned investments and refinery upgrades at INA from existing loan stock and cash flow.

He excluded any strategic cooperation with Russia's Surgutneftegaz, which bought a 21pc stake in MOL from Austria's OMV in a move which MOL's management saw as hostile.

"As we do not see clearly the fate of this package (Surgut's intentions) I cannot see possibility for talks about strategic cooperation between Surgut and MOL," Mr Hernadi told Reuters. "This is the stance of MOL's board and the stakeholders, based on discussions with them."