Serbian town scraps deal with U.S.-Dutch oil company

SMEDEREVO The town of Smederevo on Wednesday moved to terminate its contract with the Comico Oil company, the local authorities announced. Mayor Jasna Avramovic addressed a news conference to explained that the company failed to make a payment on the account of the city for the lease of land for construction of a refinery. Serbian town scraps deal with U.S.-Dutch oil company “There should be no more delays,” she said at a press conference, stressing that Smederevo is open for serious investors, and that Comico Oil was "not serious". As she put it, 113 hectares of land designed for the refinery construction is, as of Tuesday, in the ownership of the city of Smederevo and available to new investors. The mayor said that she will urge the Serbian government to change the plan for special use of the land so that it could be open for other investments as well, and not only for the refinery. Representatives of Smederevo, town on the Danube, some 46 kilometers downstream from Belgrade, and Comico Oil, the Serbian unit of U.S.-Dutch Comico Overseas, signed in March 2012 an agreement on 99-year lease of 113 hectares of land for the refinery construction. The company failed to make on time a RSD 652 million payment breaching a 60-day deadline, and the Smederevo city authorities filed a lawsuit against Comico Oil for violation of the agreement. In December 2012, Comico Oil and Smederevo authorities agreed in court that the U.S.-Dutch consortium should pay the lease by February 4 or otherwise the agreement would be terminated. The oil refinery is said to be worth RSD 250 million, and it should have provided jobs for at least 500 workers. The deadline for the refinery construction was three years. The news conference in Smederevo on Tuesday (Tanjug) Tanjug

Serbian town scraps deal with U.S.-Dutch oil company

“There should be no more delays,” she said at a press conference, stressing that Smederevo is open for serious investors, and that Comico Oil was "not serious".

As she put it, 113 hectares of land designed for the refinery construction is, as of Tuesday, in the ownership of the city of Smederevo and available to new investors.

The mayor said that she will urge the Serbian government to change the plan for special use of the land so that it could be open for other investments as well, and not only for the refinery.

Representatives of Smederevo, town on the Danube, some 46 kilometers downstream from Belgrade, and Comico Oil, the Serbian unit of U.S.-Dutch Comico Overseas, signed in March 2012 an agreement on 99-year lease of 113 hectares of land for the refinery construction.

The company failed to make on time a RSD 652 million payment breaching a 60-day deadline, and the Smederevo city authorities filed a lawsuit against Comico Oil for violation of the agreement.

In December 2012, Comico Oil and Smederevo authorities agreed in court that the U.S.-Dutch consortium should pay the lease by February 4 or otherwise the agreement would be terminated.

The oil refinery is said to be worth RSD 250 million, and it should have provided jobs for at least 500 workers.

The deadline for the refinery construction was three years.