Djedovic Handanovic speaks with NIS CEO

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic spoke with the CEO of the oil firm NIS Kirill Tyurdenev on Wednesday about the company's business plans, and noted that it had already boosted crude oil processing and would continue to increase its output in April to ensure sufficient quantities of all oil derivatives.

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

"The government is taking all measures to keep the market regularly supplied and ensure that small petrol stations can continue to operate without interruptions, and we expect all NIS customers - smaller or larger buyers - to be supplied," the minister said in an official statement.

She noted that an operating licence issued to NIS by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control was valid until April 17 and that the government had made available 40,000 t of diesel from state reserves to oil companies.

"We have banned diesel, petrol and crude oil exports, we have reduced excise duties by 20 pct and made state reserves of diesel available to oil companies, whereby we have succeeded in protecting the market from shortages and high prices. Everything NIS is producing is for our market and, at this time, they are succeeding in supplying all the requested quantities. Due to an oil price hike, imports of derivatives are down considerably, and we are facing many factors - an oil crisis as a result of the Middle East and Ukraine conflicts, as well as sanctions that NIS has been grappling with for over a year. In spite of everything, supplies remain reliable because we are taking the right measures at the right time," Djedovic Handanovic concluded.

Tyurdenev thanked the minister for the support provided to NIS by the Serbian government over the past year in the course of efforts to resolve the sanctions issue.