Stopping oil refineries in Pančevo will not, for now, affect the market itself, at least as long as there are stocks of derivatives, and the only sector where I see a potential problem is air traffic, because kerosene stocks are the least, said the expert in energy security and professor at the Faculty of Security Petar Stanojević.
In an interview for the specialized portal Energija Balkana, he said that Petrohemija will stop when it runs out of primary supplies petrol, "which is probably soon."
"All other branches of the economy and citizens will have problems if we have to rely entirely on imports and consumption of reserves, because the price of fuel will rise, and thus inflation", Stanojevic warned.
Searching for a solution
Serbia is waiting for the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to approve the operating license The oil industry of Serbia, because the Refinery is in so-called "warm circulation" until Tuesday, December 2.
The previous license from November 14, valid until February 13, 2026, approved the negotiations of shareholders and other interested parties on changing the ownership structure of NIS, which means that the Russian side has until then to sell its shares.
Meanwhile, Serbia has given a deadline Russia foreign to find a solution within 50 days, and otherwise announced the appointment of local management in the company, which is majority Russian owned.
Geopolitics in the essence of the problem
When asked what the solution to the current situation is, Stanojević says that one of the possible outcomes is what Serbian officials have proposed as a solution.
Commenting on the belated start of negotiations on a solution for NIS, Stanojević says that "some solution to geopolitical problems was expected at the highest level" and that "SAD will not go beyond the permanent extension of the license to operate when it is Serbia in question".
"Unfortunately, things have become complicated and intensified. Geopolitics is the essence of the problem, and everything else is secondary, but it affects us directly," Stanojević stressed.
Answering the question of what should be done in the future so that the current situation and crisis do not repeat themselves, he suggests that it would be wise to focus more on energy security.
"This includes: replenishment of reserves to the level prescribed by international documents, construction of a new refinery, construction of an oil pipeline from Hungary to Pancevo and further to Skopje and Thessaloniki, lease of parts of the port in Bar and Thessaloniki, creation of conditions so that at least 12.000 tons of oil or oil derivatives can be transported on the Belgrade-Bar railway per day, construction and maintenance of a fleet of barges on the Danube, use of oil shale in Aleksinac, further exploration of oil in regions where it is available, crossing railways and urban traffic on electricity or natural gas", believes Stanojević.
Source: FoNet
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