Russian oil company intends to expand investment in Serbia

Russian oil company Lukoil said here on Tuesday that the company intended to expand investment in the entire oil sector of Serbia.

"Lukoil intends to take part in the process of modernization and privatization of Serbian refineries," Lukoil's director general Vladimir Repin told reporters at the first international energy fair in Belgrade.

Opening the energy fair on Tuesday, Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining Radomir Naumov said that the government would take special measures to provide incentives to private investments in the energy sector.

The purpose of the fair is to inform professionals that the first stage of Serbia's energy sector reform has been completed, said Naumov, adding that a new legislative and institutional framework was created for doing business in the sector.

Repin said that Lukoil had invested in Serbia about 300 million euros (366 million US dollars).

"We have an interest in the building of an oil pipeline from Romania to Serbia and we have many other plans," Repin said.

He said that 100 petrol stations of Lukoil-Beopetrol would be reconstructed by the end of the year in Serbia, and that 20 million euros (24.4 million dollars) would be invested as of 2006 for the modernization and reconstruction of the retail network, while there were also plans to build new petrol stations and storage tanks.

Repin said that Lukoil planned next year to double oil shipments to refineries to 840,000 tons, which will show the company can ensure the energy stability of Serbia regardless of high oil prices.

Source: Xinhua