BELGRADE: Serbia’s natural oil and gas reserves amount to about 14 million tons, but experts estimate that the deposits are about four times larger. Four years ago, 650,000 tonnes were extracted in Serbia, while in 2014 the amount was almost double that figure, according to sources here the other day.
However, all oil reserves managed by the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) in the country and abroad are owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft. When Serbia privatized 51 percent of NIS, it retained the right to tree percent resource rent.
“Out of the total amount of 14 million tons, we can’t say how much is oil and how much is gas, because before we extract it, we don’t know what we will turn it into,” Ljubinko Savic, an adviser with the Association for Energy of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, told the Customs Today, and added:
“Our long-term geological reserves are about 50 million tons. Although we now have reserves that can be used as supplies, the majority owner NIS determines where exploration and extraction will be done. Various expert assessments range up to 170 million tons of undiscovered oil in our area, but the 50 million figure has been confirmed.”
At least 2.2 million tons of oil is consumed every year in Serbia, while 1.1 million tons is extracted in the country during the same period of time – not counting the oil NIS extracts in Angola.
So far major reserves have been discovered in northern and eastern Serbia – in Vojvodina, the Pozarevac Depression, and from the town of Negotin toward central Serbia. Geologists are exploring sites near Kraljevo, Negotin, Jagodina, and in the Macva region.
NIS representatives told the Customs Today that the company has “launched the process of acquiring unique software” that would help improve energy exploration in the Pannonian Basin.
NIS Science and Technology Center Regional Geological Service head Ivan Dulic said the computer program in question, PetroMod, was “superior numeric modeling software” that will cost EUR 500,000 to deploy – and will have its first commercial application in the Balkans within NIS.
The project will take two years and should allow NIS to analyze and interpret geological data collected in Serbia, Hungary, Romania, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
