Serbia’s NIS to build base oil unit at its Novi Sad refinery

Serbia’s NIS said it plans to invest around US$100 million to build a base oil unit at its Novi Sad refinery, as part of a drive to diversify its product portfolio and become more competitive across the region. NIS said it will soon start looking for a company to develop the technical design for the new production unit. Construction work could start in the first quarter of 2013. Commissioning of the new base oil unit, with a capacity of 180,000 tons per year, is expected in the first half of 2015. Crude oil to supply the base oil unit will come from the Velebit oil field. NIS is 56.15% owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft, a vertically integrated oil and gas company operating predominantly in Serbia.