Serbia is working on increasing mandatory reserves of oil and oil products and diversifying the sources of crude oil supply to ensure a stable and secure supply for the domestic market, according to Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic.
She said that the energy crisis has shown the necessity of having larger domestic energy reserves in Serbia to reduce dependency on others. She noted that the war in Ukraine, which has changed the economic and political landscape of Europe, and, unfortunately, the recent conflict in Israel, threaten to be long-term factors affecting supply security in Europe, which Serbia must confront.
Aditional quantities of oil and oil products that we can secure and store in Serbia as reserves mean additional energy security for our economy and citizens, and it is also essential for meeting our obligations in EU accession negotiations, Djedovic added.
The plan for the development of energy infrastructure and energy efficiency measures for the period up to 2028 with projections up to 2030 includes the construction of the Serbia-Hungary oil pipeline, which will enable the diversification of crude oil supply. The goal is to obtain another supply route for this energy source through the construction of this oil pipeline, just as Serbia will have for natural gas shortly, and to increase the supply security of domestic refineries and, consequently, the domestic market.
Minster Djedovic noted that mandatory reserves of oil derivatives increased by 54% in the past year compared to 2021, and work is ongoing to further increase them through ongoing projects. In Smederevo, six new tanks for oil products storage are being built, with the capacity to store nearly 120,000 cubic meters, of which 80,000 are expected to be operational in the first half of the next year.
