BELGRADE, July 9. /TASS/. Gazprom Neft will continue investing in Serbia’s NIS (joint asset of Gazprom Neft and Serbian government - TASS), concurrently implementing a large-scale program of social investments, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Russia’s oil producer Alexander Dybal said in an interview with TASS.

"We will continue investing in development of NIS. Last autumn President [of Serbia Aleksandar] Vucic participated in the launch of the deep refining complex at the oil refinery in Pancevo. Now, after the launch of the complex, the Pancevo plant has the refining depth of 99%. In terms of this factor the Pancevo refinery is one of the best in the world. To compare, the European refineries’ average is 85%," he said.

"We plan several major investments that will allow turning the Pancevo plant into the best refinery in Europe. It is already one of the best, but will be the most up-to-date," Dybal noted.

"NIS, which means Gazprom Neft as well, and our Serbian partners together with Gazprom Energoholding are constructing a thermal power plant in Pancevo, which will run on the Russian gas and generate electricity that will be consumed by Serbia," he said.

After Gazprom Neft entered NIS, together with Serbian partners it increased crude production by 25%, where oil refining rose by 35%, Deputy CEO added. "From the moment when Gazprom Neft came in the shareholders of NIS in 2009, the amount of tax payments that NIS pays to the Serbian budget, has doubled as in 2009 NIS paid around 700 mln euro, while now - twice as much. This all has become the result of joint efforts of Gazprom Neft and the government of Serbia that efficiently participates in the company’s development," he said.