Szijjarto: Pancevo refinery strategically important for MOL, there will be no shutdown

BELGRADE - Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday in Belgrade the Pancevo oil refinery was strategically important for the Hungarian oil company MOL, and dismissed as untrue media reports alleging that MOL would shut down the refinery in case it acquired the Serbian oil firm NIS.

NIS is under US sanctions due to its Russian majority ownership.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic at the Palace of Serbia, Szijjarto said the governments of Serbia and Hungary would sign an inter-state agreement giving strategic significance to the construction of an oil pipeline between the two countries, for which a tender was issued earlier this month.

"Once MOL buys the majority stake in NIS and once the construction of the oil pipeline is completed, we will get into an exceptionally favourable energy situation that we have not had to date," Szijjarto said.

The tender was issued by Transnafta ad Pancevo.

The pipeline will diversify Serbia's oil supply sources and boost its energy stability and security.

The Serbian stretch of the pipeline will be slightly over 100 km long and the planned capacity is around 5.5 mln t of crude oil a year.

Szijjarto: MOL wants majority stake in NIS

BELGRADE - Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday in Belgrade the Hungarian oil company MOL was interested in acquiring a majority stake in the Serbian oil firm NIS.

NIS is under US sanctions due to its Russian majority ownership.

Szijjarto was responding to questions from reporters at a press conference with Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic.

Asked if he expected a positive response to a request to be submitted to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Szijjarto said:

"As regards the sanctions issue, as soon as MOL and Gazprom neft reach the first important agreement, we will immediately contact the OFAC in Washington and we hope that, as part of an expedited process, a licence will be secured as well."

He also said work on related diplomatic tasks involving contacts with US was also underway.

Asked about the time frame for completing the acquisition, Szijjarto responded the deal would be a serious one and that no one wanted to waste time.