Serbia's NIS boosts stake in HIP-Petrohemija to 90%

MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - The Gazprom Neft group's NIS in June signed a deal to increase its stake in HIP-Petrohemija, Serbia's largest producer of petrochemicals, as part of a strategic partnership agreement signed at the end of 2021, NIS said in a press release.

Serbia's NIS, the Serbian government and HIP-Petrohemija signed an agreement on strategic partnership in December 2021, according to which NIS would increase its stake in HIP-Petrohemija from 20.86% to 90%.

The agreement provides for recapitalization of 150 million euros by NIS and construction of a high-tech polypropylene production complex with a capacity of 140,000 tonnes. Plans also call for modernizing HIP-Petrohemija's main production facilities and implementing projects to improve the energy efficiency of production and delivering environmental solutions.

NIS and HIP-Petrohemija provide services to each other and supply each other with products.

NIS is the only company in Serbia that conducts hydrocarbon exploration and production. It owns the refinery in Pancevo. NIS dominates the Serbian petroleum product market and has over 400 filling stations in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Gazprom Neft owns 50% of NIS, Gazprom owns 6.15%, Serbia owns 29.87% and minority shareholders the rest.