Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said that the sixth package of EU sanctions toward Russia means that it will no longer be possible to buy crude oil from Russia as of 1 November, so Serbian oil company NIS, majority owned by Russians, will have to get oil from other suppliers in the market, as has partially been the case so far.
However, Minister Mihajlovic believes that this will not influence the fuel market in Serbia. After 1 November, it will be possible to get crude oil only from the free market. The Government has known about this decision for two months now and it is doing everything it can to find a way to prevent disturbances in the fuel market.
NIS receives crude oil through Croatian JANAF oil pipeline and has not been buying Russian oil exclusively, instead also importing crude oil from Iraq and other countries. The overall balance consisted of around 50 % Russian crude oil, 30 % from other suppliers and 20 % local crude oil.
