BELGRADE (Reuters) -Serbia’s only oil refinery will continue operating only until November 25 without new crude oil supplies, which have been halted due to U.S. sanctions against Russian-owned plant operator NIS, Tanjug news agency reported on Wednesday, quoting the energy minister.
NIS, in which Gazprom Neft owns 44.9%, Gazprom 11.3% and the Serbian government 29.9%, operates Serbia’s sole refinery in the town of Pancevo, just outside the capital Belgrade.
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control initially placed sanctions on Russia’s oil sector on January 10 and gave Gazprom Neft 45 days to exit ownership of NIS.
Sanctions had been postponed several times since, and finally came into effect on October 8. Banks have stopped processing NIS payments and Croatia’s JANAF pipeline stopped delivering crude oil to NIS.
Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said after meeting an International Monetary Fund official that the Balkan country had sufficient reserves of oil and oil derivatives to ensure market stability, Tanjug reported.
“Our mandatory and commodity reserves are full, as well as NIS’s storage facilities, in order to prevent any disturbances on the market,” Djedovic Handanovic said.
She said sanctions against Russia’s Lukoil, which operates in Serbia as well as a recent fire at Hungary’s MOL refinery were further complicating the oil and oil derivatives market in Serbia by affecting imports.
“Every day we speak with the oil companies present in our market about the state of the market, challenges and security of supply. We are increasing the import of oil derivatives, although we have various restrictions on transportation and logistics of derivatives.”
Earlier this month, President Aleksandar Vucic said that NIS’ Pancevo facility, which has an annual capacity of 4.8 million tons and covers most of Serbia’s needs, would have to stop working after Nov. 1 without new crude oil supplies.
(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; editing by Mark Heinrich and Cynthia Osterman)
