Serbia: NIS invested 358 million euros in 2019

In 2019, Serbian oil company NIS implemented the largest investment program since 2013. A to-tal of almost 358 million euros was invested in NIS’ further development and modernization, which is 3 % more than in the previous year. Pri-ority was given to investments in oil and gas ex-ploration and production, further modernization of the Pancevo oil refinery, development of the retail network in Serbia and in the region and imple-mentation of environmental projects in all busi-ness segments. When it comes to financial indicators, NIS Group’s net profit in 2019 amounted to 140.8 million euros (33.5 % lower compared to 2018), while EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) amounted to 377 million euros (17 % lower compared to 2018). In this same period, tax liabilities and other public revenues of the NIS Group amounted to 1.61 billion euros. In the pre-vious year, NIS was a secure source of income to its shareholders, and over 55 million euros were paid in respect of dividends.
In 2019, a total of 1,286 million tons of oil and gas equivalent were produced on NIS’ assets in Serbia and abroad, and hydrocarbon reserves were built up. Experimental oil and gas production on Roma-nian assets started, while 700 square kilometers of 3D seismic surveys were conducted in Serbia. In the Pancevo oil refinery, a total of 3,373 million tons of crude oil and intermediaries were pro-cessed.
Moreover, 2019 saw a capital turnaround of the refinery, the biggest one since its foundation, with 17 million euros investment. The post-turnaround period was marked by a high refinery output, with record bitumen production of 59 thousand tons in October, which is the best monthly result in the last 10 years. What is more, construction of the bottom-of-the-barrel delayed coking unit was con-tinued, and the project completion is planned for 2020.
Total sales volume for petroleum products was 3,702 million tons, retail volume rose by 5 % and foreign assets also recorded a 21 % growth in sales. In 2019, NIS Group continued modernizing the retail network, resulting in three new state-of-the-art digital petrol stations on Serbian motor-ways, while the construction of the 19th retail sta-tion in Romania was completed. As regards the energy industry, NIS and Gazprom Energoholding together started constructing the Pancevo combined heat and power plant. The completion of this project, which will significantly boost NIS’ and the partner’s electricity generation capacity and contribute to stable operation of the Pancevo refinery, is planned for 2020.
CEO of NIS Kyrill Tyurdenev said that the compa-ny had good financial and operating results in 2019, despite the average oil prices being almost 10 % lower than the previous year. Business was also significantly affected by the planned capital turnaround in the Pancevo refinery. Owing to the investments made in accordance with its develop-ment strategy, NIS is entering 2020 with great ambition, and expects completion of the bottom-of-the-barrel and CHPP Pancevo projects.