According to Radio Free Europe, the European Commission is seeking a solution which would preserve the import of oil to Serbia, after Croatian oil transportation company JANAF announced that it would not be able to realize the transport of oil to Serbian NIS after 15 May, due to the new set of sanction of the EU directed toward Russian energy companies.
NIS representatives said that 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. They added that they are continuing to follow the situation and are analyzing all the potential scenarios.
NIS is majority owned by Russian GazpromNeft.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in late March that NIS had been subjected to the EU sanctions against Russia and that Serbia was talking to EU representatives about the import of oil.
According to data of the Energy Agency of Serbia, the country imports most of its crude oil, while only 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 by pipelines operated by JANAF.
