site.btaVarious Scenarios Considered to Ensure Serbia's Energy Stability, President Vucic Says

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that all key issues in the energy sector in the country have been discussed and that various scenarios are being considered to ensure Serbia’s energy stability, national broadcaster RTS reported on Monday.

“It is extremely important that citizens are kept informed. We have taken all necessary steps to ensure that all essential systems are functioning,” Vucic wrote on Instagram following a meeting with the country’s energy stability and security teams.

The Serbian state holds 29.9% of NIS (Naftna Industrija Srbije - Serbia's only oil company), while the main owner remains Gazprom Neft with 44.9%. In early January, the United States (US) announced that due to the war in Ukraine and "secondary risk", it would impose sanctions on NIS, which is majority-owned by Russian oil giant Gazprom. The sanctions came into force on October 9 after being postponed eight times. Washington demanded the complete withdrawal of Russian capital from the company, but Russia announced that it was ready to sell its stake. At its meeting on November 25, the Serbian government decided to give Russia 50 days to find a buyer for its stake. On December 2, Vucic said that NIS has not received a licence to operate from the US, which would lead to the refinery's operations being halted.

In November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban confirmed that Hungarian firm MOL was a candidate to purchase Russian assets in NIS, although he did not specify whether this referred to the entirety of the Russian stake.

Serbia’s Minister of Energy and Mining, Dubravka Dedovic Handanovic, said on Monday that the situation in the oil sector is becoming increasingly complex, but that the state would do everything necessary to maintain supply stability. She assured that Serbia has sufficient fuel oil for the entire heating season and urged citizens not to worry and to trust the state.

“What citizens also need to know is that we have fulfilled all the requests made by our Russian partners. However, we must not forget that these sanctions were imposed by the US; it was the Americans who introduced them, and we are a small country that simply wishes to pursue a neutral policy,” Dedovic said, as quoted by RTS.