Vucic reacted to searches in the Romanian office of NIS Petrol

BELGRADE, 3 Oct – PRIME. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the searches conducted by the Romanian prosecutor’s office in the office of the Serbian company NIS Petrol, controlled by the Gazprom Neft group, an attempt to “discipline the disobedient.”

Romanian media reported on Monday that prosecutors from the Office for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism on Monday raided NIS Petrol, a company controlled by Russia’s Gazprom Neft, in Timisoara and Bucharest, as part of a criminal investigation into illegal transmission of computer data and trade secrets.

It was reported that the searches took place at nine addresses: at workplaces, as well as at the homes of some employees.

“This is to discipline those who are considered disobedient. Moreover, the possible fault of the NIS is not ruled out at all, but I don’t know what’s the matter, I didn’t do it. It is important to note that there are no Serbian citizens there and this has nothing to do with us,” Vučić said. journalists in Budapest.

“We are talking about the Russians, we will request additional information from the Romanian police … In any case, we only lacked this, as if every day we throw a stone at God,” the Serbian leader said emotionally.

Vučić said on September 14 that the mineral extraction tax (MET) for hydrocarbon production by Russian companies in Serbia cannot be raised above the current 3% without terminating the contract with the companies of the Gazprom group, which would entail consequences. According to him, the MET in the amount of 3% is now paid for hydrocarbon production in the territory of Serbia, “which is almost gone,” but changing the terms of the contract would be its violation and grounds for termination.

In January 2008, Gazprom Neft signed an agreement to acquire a controlling stake (51%) in the state-owned Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS-Gazprom Neft), one of the largest vertically integrated oil companies in Central Europe. In May of this year, Gazprom Neft reduced its stake in NIS from 56.15% to 50% on the Belgrade Stock Exchange, and the parent company Gazprom became the owner of 6.15% of the shares. A 29.87% stake belongs to Serbia, the rest belongs to smaller shareholders.

The main activity of the company is the exploration, production and processing of oil and natural gas, the sale of refined products, the implementation of projects in the field of petrochemistry and energy. Serbia has oil and gas fields, the Pancevo refinery, oil depots and a network of gas stations. According to the company, the contribution to the Serbian budget – the obligations of NIS on taxes and other government revenues in 2021 – amounted to 217.8 billion dinars (about 1.8 billion euros), which is 21% more than in 2020.