NIS and " Zarubezhneft " explore oil deposits in the Srpska Republic - Project value 130-150 million EUR

Representatives of the company Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) "Zarubezhneft" have signed today (16 July, 2010) in Banja Luka, a Memorandum of cooperation on exploration of oil deposits in the territory of Srpska Republic, reports Fena.

These two companies intend to submit a request to the BiH's entity authorities for issuing concessions for the works and for possivble exploitation if it is proves to find a certain amount of oil.

The Prime Minister of Srpska Republic, Milorad Dodik, who attended at the signing of this document, said he would prefer to have reached a joint decision with the BiH Federation, because "the area of this entity that is in contact with the sites to be explored, it was possible that certain quantities of oil existed. "

- Before granting a concession it is necessary to do a joint study, and after the companies apply, the Government of Srpska Republic will within 30 days be ready to give concession for research work - said Dodik.

In the meantime, the conditions for granting this concession will be negotiated.

- The beginning of works requires an investment of 20 million USD, while the total project amounts to about 130-150 million USD - said the entity's Prime Minister, convinced it will confirm the earlier "fact" that there is a certain amount of crude oil in this region which was showed by previous the research done less than 20-30 years ago.

General Manager of the company "Zarubezhneft" Nikolay Brunic hopes that those parts that they have been exploring as new deposits of oil, will be successfully completed.

Director General of NIS Kirill Kravchenko did not want to talk specifically about the research project of oil deposits, but he hopes that by the end of 2011, the first exploration will have been completed.

Ambassador of the Russian Federation in BiH Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko and Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy, Petar Skundric also attended the signing of the Memorandum and expressed satisfaction with the continuing cooperation between the two oil industries in this important area.