site.btaNo Queues Yet as Serbia Nears Fuel-Supply Crisis

On the eve of a potential fuel-supply crisis, Serbia’s petrol stations remain calm, with no queues and only a slight uptick in prices, which nevertheless remain among the highest in the Balkans, a BTA check showed.

At an extraordinary government meeting on Sunday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that his country has one week to decide what measures to take to guarantee its fuel supplies from the refinery of the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), which is under US sanctions, without resorting to nationalization.

The extraordinary session was convened after the United States gave NIS a three-month deadline to completely divest itself of its majority Russian ownership.

Banks have already halted transactions with NIS, and according to officials, the company’s only refinery in Pancevo has enough crude to continue operating only until November 25.

“The decision (…) must be taken in the next seven days; the refinery has to keep running,” Vucic said.

He added that Serbia wants to avoid nationalizing Russian assets and is ready to offer a price above market value for the company if ongoing negotiations between the Russian side and unnamed Asian and European partners fail.

Sanctioned Russian company Gazprom Neft holds 44.9% of NIS, the Gazprom-related Intelligence company owns another 11.2%, the Serbian state holds 29.9%, and the remainder is split among smaller shareholders.

According to statistical data, some 95,000 people in Serbia earn the minimum wage, which for 2025 stands at EUR 457.

From January 1, 2026, the Serbian government plans to raise the minimum wage to EUR 551, while the 2026 budget projects that the average monthly net salary in December 2026 will reach at least EUR 1,147, rising to EUR 1,400 by end-2027.

Analysts predict that those least affected by a potential fuel shortage will be people living near the borders with Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Romania, as they will have the shortest distances to travel to fill up their tanks in neighbouring countries.