EU Seeking Solution for Import of Oil to Serbia

The European Commission is seeking a solution which would preserve the import of oil to Serbia, it was said for Radio Free Europe, after Jadranski Naftovod (JANAF) announced that it would not be able to realize the transport of oil to Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) from May 15, 2022, due to the new set of sanction of the EU directed toward Russian energy companies.

– The European Council adopts any decision of the extension or expansion of the sanctions unanimously. We are seeking a solution which will protect the import of oil to Serbia – the EC said in a written response to the inquest of Radio Free Europe (Radio Slobodna Evropa – RSE).

JANAF, headquartered in Zagreb, announced on March 29, that the decree of the EU adopted on March 15 affected the agreement signed between JANAF and NIS, valid until December 2022.

Since 2008, the majority owner of NIS has been the Russian state company Gazprom Neft.

At that company, they say for RSE that the operations of NIS at the moment “are carried out without a problem”.

– The company remains focused on continuing the realization of the initiated investments and preserving the stability in the local market of petroleum products. The Pancevo Oil Refinery is operating normally and the market is regularly supplied with all types of petroleum products – NIS says.

They add that they are continuing to follow the situation and “analyzing all the potential scenarios”.

The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said on March 31 for RTS that NIS had been subjected to the EU sanctions against Russia and that Serbia was talking to EU representatives about the import of oil. He said at the time that “it will be solved”.

The data of the Energy Agency of Serbia, the regulatory body for the energy sector, show that Serbia imports most of its crude oil, whereas a fourth of the needs (26.1%) are met from the local production.

Of the total quantities of oil that Serbia imports, two thirds come from Iraq, and one third from Russia and Kazakhstan.

Most of that oil is delivered to Serbia precisely by the JANAF pipeline.

NIS a.d. Novi Sad

NIS a.d. Petrol Rafinerija nafte Pančevo

European Commission

NIS

Naftna industrija Srbije

Jadranski naftovod

JANAF

Pančevo Oil Refinery

Gazprom Neft

oil

oil pipeline

import

stopping of import

sanctions toward Russia