Hungarian MOL and Russian Gazprom Neft have agreed on the basic terms of the future contract for the sale of a majority stake in the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS), Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović Handanović said.
"This is something that was a request from the US administration and as such will be referred to them for a decision," she said in a video statement.
She pointed out that in these negotiations, Serbia managed to improve its position in NIS compared to 2008.
"Serbia managed to improve its position in these negotiations compared to 2008, when we remained at under 30 percent ownership, and that is to increase our ownership in NIS by five percent in the future and reach a number of shares that will allow us greater decision-making rights in the Shareholders' Assembly, and above all, to protect the interests of our citizens," she said.
She pointed out that partners from the United Arab Emirates are also expected to be part of the future purchase agreement, and that this remains to be negotiated, with the deadline being March 24th.
"It is important for us that MOL has committed, not that it will not close the Pančevo Refinery, but that it will maintain the level of production that we had before, and of course increase it if necessary, so that NIS can maintain the market share it had in previous years, and was the largest market participant in Serbia," said Đedović Handanović.
She added that negotiations on ownership in NIS are continuing.
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