Bajatovic: There will be no gas crisis, situation with NIS complicated

BELGRADE - Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic said on Tuesday there would be no gas crisis in Serbia but that the situation with the oil company NIS - which is under US sanctions due to its Russian-majority ownership - was complicated and that it remained to be seen how the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) would respond to a request by Serbia.

In an appearance on Pink TV, Bajatovic said he was against a nationalisation of NIS but that the government could not leave the people without fuels.

Serbia is capable of procuring oil derivatives, but not over the long term, Bajatovic said, adding that the sanctions on NIS could have an impact on Serbia's economic growth.

"The president of Serbia has made personal efforts and they (the US) have left him a month or two until the negotiations on NIS are completed, but if that does not happen, not many moves remain - there will either be no NIS, or nationalisation. Do not get me wrong, we can procure oil derivatives, but all this would impact everything that has been done in the past ten to fifteen years - stabilisation of production, employment, a decline of unemployment, as well as foreign investments," Bajatovic added.