Serbian oil firm NIS, majority owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft, plans to open subsidiaries in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania as part of its regional expansion strategy, the company said on Friday, according to Reuters newswire.
“The registration of subsidiaries in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Bosnia is a NIS’ step towards the realization of a strategy to develop business in the Balkan region and initial phase in actively entering these markets,” said NIS in a statement for Reuters.
In May, NIS and Canada-based East West Petroleum Corporation (EWP) signed a deal to develop four oil and gas exploration onshore blocks in Romania. The blocks lie within a major producing region of western Romania and have a combined area of approximately 1.000.000 acres.
NIS reported a net profit of USD 304 million for the first semester of 2011. The oil company aims to triple crude output and almost double sales by 2020, to become the regional market leader.
Ovidiu Posirca