“Lukoil” to postpone commencement of production in Pančevo-based "Petrohemija"

Production in Pančevo-based "Petrohemija" is not going to start at the beginning of August because "Lukoil" demands 47.5m USD worth of debts to be paid, and it does not accept reprogramming of the debts and agreement on future procurements of raw gasoline.

As Branislav Zec, the President of the Administrative Board of "Petrohemija", confirmed for "Novosti", "Lukoil" has not accepted reprogramming of the debts on period of five years, and it requests payment of the debts for 55,000 tons of gasoline that were procured during four months of year 2008.

- That quantity of fuel now costs only 30m USD, but we are going to address them one more time at the beginning of the next week - says Zec.

- There is no possibility for commencement of production without agreement with "Lukoil". The only option is introduction of working bankruptcy. In that case, future strategic partner would be offered both property and workers.

The President of the Administrative Board of "Petrohemija" points out that a very good agreement has been made with the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), and that interest will be written off. Instead of 85m USD, 60m USD will be reprogrammed on period of five years, while 10,000 tons of gasoline will be delivered at the price cut by 20 USD.