Prime Minister Ivica Dacic officially put into operation the modernised refinery in Pancevo, whose reconstruction cost €547 million.
The new plant for mild hydrocracking and hydrotreating complex (MHC/DHT), which will allow the production of fuel “Euro-5”, was put into operation in the presence of President Tomislav Nikolic, Director General of Gazprom Neft Alexander Dyukov and General Manager of the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) Kirill Kravchenko.
Dacic said that modernisation of the NIS refinery is one of the major investment projects in Serbia, which will help increase energy security of the country.
He stressed that the aim of the government of Serbia is to have NIS become the largest company in the Balkans and added that the reconstruction of the refinery in Pancevo shows that Serbia chose a reliable partner for NIS.
The Prime Minister recalled that the Russian company Gazprom Neft has invested more than €500 million in the modernisation of the refinery in a time of economic crisis, as it had promised.
It is important to continue with this trend of investment. Continued investment in all segments of NIS is crucial for the economic development in Serbia and is an incentive for the development of industry in the country, said Dacic.
According to Dacic, one of Serbia’s foreign policy priorities is to develop closer and better relations with Russia.
The ceremony was also attended by Minister of Finance and Economy Mladjan Dinkic, Minister for Energy, Development and Environmental Protection Zoran Mihajlovic, Minister of Natural Resources, Mining and Spatial Planning Milan Bacevic and Minister of Construction and Urban Planning Velimir Ilic.
They also read out a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin who congratulated NIS on the completion of this great work and announced new investment in NIS worth $1.5 billion in the next three years.
The launch of work of the reconstructed Pancevo oil refinery is also the fulfillment of the obligations that the company Gazprom Neft, as a strategic partner, took in accordance with the Intergovernmental agreement on strategic cooperation in the energy sector, which was signed between the Russian Federation and Serbia in 2008.
The Russian company, which is the majority owner of NIS, has invested €547 million in Pancevo refinery, of which €397 million was spent on the construction of the hydrocracking complex, and about €150 million in modernisation and construction of industrial infrastructure, refinery, construction hydrogen plant and environmental projects.
With the completion of this project, the annual volume of petroleum produced by the highest European standards will be increased to 638,000 tonnes, and of diesel to 1.54 million tonnes.
Source Serbia Gov.
