Serbia’s Vucic warns oil refinery faces shutdown as US sanctions bite

Pancevo, the country’s lone lipid refinery, present connected ‘hot standby’ arsenic Vucic faces tricky imaginable of seizing Russian asset.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has warned that the country’s lone lipid refinery volition unopen down successful 4 days if the United States does not assistance sanctions that were imposed implicit its bulk Russian ownership successful transportation with the Ukraine war.

Vucic said connected Tuesday that helium would springiness Russia’s Gazprom and Gazprom Neft, which unneurotic ain 56.2 percent of the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) lipid company, 50 days to merchantability their involvement oregon the Serbian authorities would instrumentality implicit operations and marque an connection to bargain them out.

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For Vucic, who has adjacent ties to Moscow, the enactment of seizing a Russian plus whitethorn beryllium unpalatable, but helium said that his state had been near successful an “increasingly hard position” with “no casual solutions” arsenic Washington and the Kremlin clashed.

The US sanctions, which deed NIS successful October, person chopped disconnected crude proviso to the Pancevo refinery, the lone lipid refining installation successful the country. “It has not been unopen down yet, but it is already moving astatine a reduced level compared to normal,” said Vucic.

“Serbia is facing large problems … When you enforce sanctions against Russia and its companies, they extremity up hitting our country,” helium said, adding that the US sanctions whitethorn extremity up affecting proviso lines and energy accumulation successful the mediate of winter.

The Balkan state does person capable substance reserves successful the abbreviated term, but a full shutdown of its lone refinery volition halt accumulation of petrol, diesel and pitchy substance and whitethorn wounded the country’s economy, Vucic said.

NIS said successful a connection that it began preparations for a shutdown of its Serbian refinery by placing it connected a alleged blistery standby that would let a restart erstwhile crude lipid becomes available.

“NIS continues to proviso the home marketplace with petroleum products without interruption, acknowledgment to antecedently secured stocks,” it said.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions connected Russia’s lipid assemblage successful January – including NIS, which was granted repeated waivers earlier the sanctions yet came into effect successful October.

After sanctions hit, banks stopped processing NIS payments, and Croatia’s JANAF pipeline halted crude deliveries to the refinery, forcing the Balkan state to look for alternate supplies.

The Serbian cardinal slope besides said successful a connection that it would halt each outgo transactions for NIS if the company’s operating licence were not extended.

Washington is seeking implicit Russian divestment from NIS, and connected November 1,5 it gave the company’s owners until February 13 to find a purchaser for the Russian stake.

Gazprom Neft holds 44.9 percent of NIS and Gazprom 11.3 percent of NIS, according to quality bureau Reuters. Serbia owns 29.9 percent, with the remainder held by tiny shareholders.

Oil institution Gazprom Neft is simply a subsidiary of vigor elephantine Gazprom.