Transport of crude oil to NIS refinery begins

BELGRADE - Transport of crude oil to the NIS refinery in Pancevo began via the JANAF pipeline on Tuesday, Tanjug learns.

Serbia's Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said on Monday that, after almost a hundred days, the first quantities of crude oil for NIS were due to arrive via the JANAF pipeline on Tuesday morning and that the Pancevo refinery would start operating around January 16 and produce its first quantities of diesel around January 26-27.

NIS is under US sanctions due to its Russian majority ownership.

"Good news coming on Tuesday morning - after almost a hundred days, the first oil is due to arrive via the Adriatic Pipeline. That is some 85,000 t, to be delivered this week. So, the Pancevo refinery will start operating around January 16, in any case, before the end of the week. We expect the first diesel (quantities) to come out of production and become available on the market around January 26 or 27," Djedovic Handanovic said.

"After the 85,000 t, we expect an additional 35,000-45,000 t of oil to arrive next week," the minister added.

She also said she expected that talks between Gazprom neft and the Hungarian oil company MOL about a purchase of the Russian stake in NIS would be completed successfully and that the US Office of Foreign Assets Control would extend an operating licence issued to NIS.