A US court has upheld the arbitration ruling and ordered Croatia to pay Hungary's oil company MOL a total of $286 million. The decision by the District Court in Washington on April 28, 2026 comes out of a case dating back to 2013 - when MOL launched proceedings at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over alleged breaches of the Energy Charter Treaty linked to its investment in the Croatian oil major INA.

The arbitration tribunal awarded $183 million to MOL in 2022. With accumulated interest, the figure has now climbed to 286 million. Croatia tried to block enforcement using a state-sovereignty argument - the court rejected it. The state is now simultaneously exploring legal remedies and negotiating for a settlement.

The case matters for the region because it shows the reality of international investment arbitration: the state can lose, and courts in third countries - in this case the US - have the authority to enforce the verdict. For the Balkans, where foreign investors often claim to have been manipulated or treated unfairly, this is not an abstract legal theory.

Whether Croatia will pay, appeal or negotiate the figure down is still open. But the number is concrete: $286 million. That is a bill that keeps climbing while the negotiations drag on.