The Russian oil and gas company Surgutneftegas seems ready to withdraw from Hungary's MOL in exchange for a stake in Croatian peer INA currently held by the Hungarian company, the Budapest-based Nepszava and Vilaggazdasag news magazines reported on Thursday.

They said that the source of this information is the German paper Handelsblatt.

"Quoting the German paper Handelsblatt, the papers qualified the transaction as the next move in an energy policy chess game underway in the region," the Hungarian MTI news agency reported on Thursday.

MTI quoted Vilaggazdasag as reporting that the transaction may be hindered by an agreement between MOL and the Croatian government, providing for a five-year-moratorium on the sale of management rights in INA.

MTI carried an opinion piece in Handelsblatt which said that MOL would lose on the transaction either way.

"If it enters the deal, then it will lose the position in Croatia, but if the transaction is not carried out then the Russian threat remains unchanged. At any time, Surgut may attempt to buy nearly four fifths of MOL in Hungary."
MOL holds a 47-percent interest in INA.