Despite the crisis caused by the pandemic, NIS will continue to invest in capital projects that will contribute to its further development, said Kiril Tyurdenev General Director of Serbian oil company NIS, majority owned by Russian GazpromNeft.
Tyurdenev said in an interview that the company managed to reduced costs and prioritize investments, but saving at the expense of the company’s long-term development is not and will not be an option. NIS remains focused on projects that will bring the company, but also Serbia, the most benefits in the future.
According to him, regardless of the difficult situation on the market caused by the fall in oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic, NIS did not reduce salaries, nor did it lay off employees, but managed to preserve the financing of key projects. In total, it invested over 120 million euros in the first half of 2020, which is a real achievement considering the conditions in which the company operates in 2020. Tyurdenev stated that one of the key projects of NIS, deep processing unit in Pancevo oil refinery, is in the phase of performing pre-start activities. Once it starts operating, deep processing unit will enable the company to produce larger quantities of white derivatives – diesel, gasoline and LPG and to reduce or give up the production of black derivatives, primarily fuel oil. He added that the investment is worth more than 300 million euros.
Asked if NIS will participate in the privatization of petrochemical complex HIP-Petrohemija, Tyurdenev said that the acquisition will be discussed once the privatization tender opens and when the terms of privatization are reveals. Currently, NIS holds 20 % stake in Petrohemija.
In the first half of 2020, under adverse global circumstances, NIS managed to keep the EBITDA indicator at a positive level of 19.5 million euros, as well as a positive cash flow of 53.5 million euros, but due to negative macroeconomic trends, a net loss of 86.7 million euros was recorded.
