200 mil EUR of investments needed for a secure future – What is Petrohemija’s future?

The Commercial Court of Pancevo prescribed a provisional measure for Petrohemija, which enables it to operate until the end of the year without the state’s protection, providing that it honors its financial obligations. The Government expects that the pre-packaged reorganization plan will yield results, as Petrohemija has been operating without losses since 2015. The biggest obstacles to its development still are old debts of half a billion EUR.

Petrohemija increased its production by a fifth in the last year, stopped the increase of debts and started settling its current liabilities. They are hoping to persevere through the next six months and begin recovering financially with the help of the Pre-Packaged Reorganization Plan (PPRP).

- The PPRP is a document which is supposed to enable profitable operations after it’s been applied, and on the other hand, to enable a more efficient payment to the creditors, thereby making the company more attractive to potential strategic partners – states general Manager of Petrohemija Velimir Unkovic.

Petrohemija factories in Pancevo and Elemir employ 1,430 people. All three representative unions claim that there are no redundancies, as the average employee age is over 50, so the natural attrition rate is high.

- Considering that Petrohemija has already had two social programs, 800 people left Petrohemija from 2009 to 2015, so at this moment we may say there are not enough employees at the moment – emphasizes Novica Kocic, representative of the Independent Union of Petrohemija.

Zlatko Bekic of the Union of Shiftworkers Pravda says that Petrohemija needs young experts, especially considering that, as he says, a large number of people on whom the technological processes are dependent will leave in the next three to four years.

- It takes a few years for someone to become a great manager or an industrial worker, and the Serbian job market is lacking in this profile of workers – Bekic points out.

- After May 28, we will be forced to ask the Privatization Agency to allow us to employ new workers, not only engineers, but people in other professions as well. Petrohemija needs this to continue operating without trouble in the coming period – says Zoran Obradovic of the Union of Engineers and Technicians Nezavisnost.

HIP-Petrohemija a.d. Pančevo

Privredni sud u Pančevu

Vlada Republike Srbije

Agencija za privatizaciju Republike Srbije Beograd prestala sa radom 29.01.2016.

JSC Gazprom Neft Moscow

Petrohemija operations

PPRP for Petrohemija

Velimir Unkovic

Petrohemija employees

Novica Kocic

Independent Union of Petrohemija

Zlatko Bekic

Union of Shiftworkers Pravda

Petrohemija jobs

Zoran Obradovic

Union of Engineers and Technicians Nezavisnost

Petrohemija export

Petrohemija business activities

Petrohemija investments

NIS Gazpromneft