MOL plans to retain Pancevo refinery for long term if it acquires NIS

BUDAPEST - The Hungarian oil firm MOL said on Thursday it would retain the Pancevo oil refinery for the long term if it became the majority owner of the Serbian oil company NIS.

MOL said the refinery had a very important strategic role in ensuring stable and uninterrupted energy supply.

"MOL's objective is to further strengthen the security of supply in Serbia and the region while utilising synergies among refineries. If the transaction is completed successfully, we plan to operate the facility over the long term," the Hungarian company said in response to a Forbes query.

Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said on Wednesday meetings had been held with MOL's operating and legal teams about its acquisition of a Russian majority stake in NIS and that a certain number of issues had been resolved, and added that she expected 90 pct of positions to be agreed by the end of this week.

She said it was important that talks with MOL were continuing and noted that she had met with MOL Group CEO Zsolt Hernadi on Saturday.

"I expect that we will have some 90 pct of the positions agreed by the end of the week. I assume a few more outstanding issues will remain to be discussed at a higher level," Djedovic Handanovic told the RTS, adding that, at the same time, MOL top executives had also held discussions in St Petersburg.