“Our plan is to enlarge our sale network on regional markets, notably on Croatia and Serbia’s markets,” said Rade Vidakovic, an official of Optima Grupa, Zarubezhneft’s branch in Bosnia.

“When OMV announced the sale of its network… we expressed our interest and we are going to make a proposal,” Vidakovic told AFP.

OMV, which has been present in Croatia since 1992 and in Bosnia since 2001, said in December it planned to “completely withdraw” from the two countries.

“The goal is to finish the sale of two branches here by the end of 2013. Negotiations with interested parties will start in the coming months and we are open to an entire series of options,” a source from Croatia’s OMV branch told AFP.

OMV has 62 gas stations in Croatia and 28 stations in Bosnia.