Successfully organized NIS investor’s Day

Representatives of the major banks in Serbia, brokerage firms, investment funds, financial analysts and the investment community had the opportunity yesterday in Pančevo to see the improvements made by NIS in modernising refining, and to hear about the business plans that will position the Company as a leader in the Southeast Europe oil business.

Nicolaus Petri, Director of Investments and Strategy at NIS presented the results and the plan for the next three years. The experts made a conclusion that the majority shareholder, Gazprom Neft, transformed NIS into a financially sound company ready for the match in the liberal market.

In three years, said Petri, we went from producing leaded petrol, which was only produced in Serbia and Albania, to the current production, which completely complies with European Union’s quality standards. After 547 million euro worth of investment in the modernisation of the Pančevo Oil Refinery, we now have the technical and technological capability to produce 1.6 million tons of Euro Diesel and more than 600 thousand tons of high-quality petrol. Due to the level of domestic consumption of fuel we will not be able to sell it in Serbia, and our business policy is focused on export, especially to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Western parts of Bulgaria and Romania. We will continue to invest in crude oil exploitation, modernisation of refining facilities and expansion of the retail network.

In the next three years, NIS will invest 500 million euro per year. In the Refining, we will continue investments with the goal of reaching maximum BoB in order to reduce heavy residue (heavy fuel oil and bitumen) and increase the share of light petroleum products. By mid-2013 we will select the optimum solution and invest in the increase of BoB in Pančevo. In Q1 of 2013 we will make a final decision on investment in the modernisation of the Novi Sad Oil Refinery, which will produce high-quality oils and lubricants.

NIS Investments and Strategy Director continued and stated that the company will use more than half of required crude oil from own sources for refining in Pančevo, and that in the next three years the company plans to reach the annual production level of 4 million tons.

This year’s NIS Investors Day met the expectation, which was confirmed by the event participants. This will become regular channel of communication with potential investors. The guests said that this is the best way to influence potential buyers of NIS shares.

After the presentation and open dialogue with NIS management, the participants went on a tour of the refinery, where they had the opportunity to see the new MHC&DHT unit and other refinery facilities.