Bosnian Oil Refinery Brod Plans to Process 4.2 Mln Tonnes of Crude per Year by 2010 - Media

The refinery officially restarted production on Thursday after being idled for 15 years, business news portal Capital.ba reported.

The refinery’s initial capacity will be 1.2 million tonnes of crude oil per year, Capital.ba quoted Zarubezhneft’s general manager, Nikolay Brunich, as saying. The Serb Republic’s public broadcaster, RTRS, quoted Brod general manager Aleksandr Litvinenko as saying that the refinery would initially process up to 1,500 tonnes daily, later raising the volume to 3,600 tonnes.

The Serb Republic, where Brod is based, is one of the two autonomous regions that make up war-divided Bosnia. The other is the Muslim-Croat Federation.

Brod produced its first quantities of diesel and fuel oil following the shutdown on Monday, the Serb Republic government said earlier this week. Thursday's inauguration ceremony was attended by top Bosnian government and Zarubezhneft officials.

The Serb Republic sold last year a package of its majority stakes in Bosanski Brod, motor oil and lubricant maker Modrica and fuel retailer Petrol to Zarubezhneft for a combined 121.1 million euro ($155.3 million). Zarubezhneft pledged to spend a total of 979 million euro to buy the stakes and invest in the Bosnian companies.

The Russian company now owns, via its subsidiary Neftegazinkor, 80% of Brod, 75.65% of Modrica and 80% of Petrol. The minority stakes in the three companies are with privately held investment funds and firms.

($ = 0.78 euro)