Serbia's NIS swings to 9-mo net loss of 8.3 bln dinars (71 mln euro)

In January-September, the oil and gas industry was affected by adverse global trends, reduced demand for petroleum products, as well as sharp decline in oil prices, NIS said in a statement.

The company's total sales revenue fell 31% on the year to 135.3 billion dinars in January-September, NIS said in an interim financial statement filed with the Belgrade Stock Exchange.

In the third quarter alone, the group recorded a 2.0 billion dinars net profit, down from a 7.5 billion dinars net profit in July-September 2019, as sales revenue plunged 37.2% to 49.4 billion dinars.

Despite the adverse external factors, the company invested 20.7 billion dinars in development in the first nine months of 2020, mainly in oil and gas exploration and production activities at its Bottom-of-the Barrel Project in the Pancevo Oil Refinery, as well as in upgrading its retail network in Serbia and the region.

Oil and gas production amounted to 952,000 tonnes of oil equivalent in January-September, at the same level as last year, and 2.6 million tonnes of crude oil and semi-finished product were processed, up 14% compared to the like period of 2019, NIS noted.

NIS, 56.15%-owned by Gazprom, is one of the largest vertically integrated oil and gas companies in Southeast Europe. Its main activities include the exploration, production and processing of oil and gas, as well as the production and retail trade with a wide range of petroleum products. Serbia's government owns a 29.87% stake in NIS.

The company's shares closed down 0.38% at 546 dinars on the Belgrade bourse on Wednesday.

(1 euro = 117.572 dinars)