BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: Brod oil refinery hopes to regain its pre-war market, having relaunched production after a three-year break

Record ID: 572828

  • Title: BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: Brod oil refinery hopes to regain its pre-war market, having relaunched production after a three-year break
  • Date: 28th November 2008
  • Summary: FLAME BURNING BROD REFINERY
  • Embargoed: 13th December 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Topics: Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVABDLA4DX8621M5YFDIFM7F69FE
  • Story Text: Bosnia's sole oil refinery, Brod, resumed production on Thursday (November 27) after a three-year break and a 40 million euro investment by its new owner, Russian state company Zarubezhneft.
    In 2007 Zarubezhneft acquired the refinery in the northern town of Bosanski Brod, a lubricant producer in Modrica and the oil distributor Petrol for a total of 121.1 million euros.
    Brod will refine Russian crude oil, transported by pipeline via neighbouring Croatia.
    Zarubezhneft bought the refinery from the government of the Serb Republic, an autonomous region that along with the Muslim-Croat federation makes up Bosnia.
    It now hopes to regain the refinery's pre-war markets and cover all oil needs in Bosnia. Since the war ended, Bosnia has had to import oil and has no oil reserves.

    "This day is certainly a historic day for the refinery, for the Serb Republic government, for all people of good will, for our perspective and our future, for our energy stability," Serb Republic Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik said.
    The Russian investor has modernised one production line, which has a capacity of 1.2 million tones of oil and at the start of the next year, it plans to start refurbishing another line, which has a capacity of three million tonnes of crude.
    Zarubezhneft General Director Nikolai Brunich said activities shall begin soon to enable more production.

    "We are getting ready to start full production of 4.2 million tonnes of oil," he said.
    The Brod refinery was a major oil refinery in the former Yugoslav federation but was seriously damaged during the 1992-95 war, and operated on and off until 2005.
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