Thursday, 20. February 2014.
Negotiations with possible strategic partners will start on March 10
Negotiations with strategic partners interested in“HIP-Petrohemija†will start on March 10, and there are three interested companies, said Minister of Energy Zorana Mihajlovic, who has visited the company today with her collaborators. After having the discussions with management, Supervisory Board and unions of “HIP-Petrohemija†and visit of HDPE Plant her estimation was that NIS (Oil Industry of Serbia) would be the most natural partner for “HIP-Petrohemijaâ€.
“We shall have discussions about that with NIS and the rest three interested strategic partners, and the discussions will take place in the Government of Republic of Serbia in cooperation with Ministries of Finance and Economy, management and unions of Petrohemija†– said Mihajlovic.
Director General of“HIP-Petrohemijaâ€, Velimir Unković announced that Petrohemija will work on the strategy of integrated development of refinery and petrochemical processing, with utilization of all the existing and potential connections with Refinery Pancevo, emphasizing that only with such a program Petrohemija can be a successf and profitable company.
„Strategy of integrated develpment means optimization of refinery - petrochemical processing, common planning of development projects and maximum utilization of the advantage of common location, as well as synergy effects in accordance with this“ - said Unković and added that this integrated development should be also in the interest of NIS. "Without functional connection with Refinery PanÄevo there is no perspective for „HIP-Petrohemija“ – said Unković and agreed with Minister Mihajlovic that the most natural strategic partner for Petrohemija is NIS or some company from Russia from the field of petrochemistry, "which can successfully negotiate with NIS about the conditions of purchase of raw materials and energy products,as well as mutual exchange of products."
The greatest reasons pushing Petrohemija into loss are consequences of NATO bombing of the company, several decades of non-investment into new production capacities, as well as unfavorable prices of raw materials and energy products, pointed out Unković. He stated that annual revenues of Petrohemija are great and amount around 360 million eur, from which export is around 240 million eur and his message was that in „HIP-Petrohemija“ which is of great importance for state there should be invested and it should be consolidated, as it has an excellent placement of products on the market.
Emphasizing the wish of Government of Republic of Serbia that Petrohemija should work and make export, the Minister Zorana Mihajlovic reminded that “HIP-Petrohemijaâ€, although under restructuring for many years,exported the products in the value of 240 million eur last year.According to her words,the prices of gas and energy products for Petrohemija are high,which contributes to operation of the company with losses.Therefore she has discussed today with management of the company how this costs should be reduced,on possibilities of using liberalized gas market,that there should be tried to get cheaper gas from the suppliers who can offer that. Mihajlovic has pointed out that the estimated necessary investments into recovery of Petrohemija are around 200 million eur and that for that reason a strategic partner is necessary who will carry out investment program.