Serbia has found a way out of sanctions: fuel was taken away from Ukraine

The Serbian government has stated that there are enough petroleum products in the country, despite US sanctions against the main producer controlled by Gazprom Neft. Serbian traders choose volumes in neighboring countries that used to go to Ukraine.

"At the government meeting, it was concluded that enterprises and citizens have no reason to worry, since all oil products are available in sufficient quantities," the Serbian government said after an extraordinary meeting.

Prior to that, Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Handanovic said that Belgrade had submitted proposals to Washington on the exclusion of Nis from sanctions, but for now citizens should not worry, since there will be enough petroleum products.

In October, the US Treasury stopped issuing exemptions from the sanctions imposed this year on Nis, which is the main supplier of petroleum products in the country. Washington demands that Gazprom Neft sell its stake in the company and, as Dubravka Khandanovich reported, the Russian company agreed.

In the meantime, Nis was left without oil supplies, as Croatian JANAF stopped transit, and the production of petroleum products. The deficit was covered by purchases in neighboring countries. The main volumes came from Hungary, Romania and Poland.

We are talking mainly about those volumes that used to go to Ukraine. For example, Hungarian supplies to the country fell to almost zero in October. At the same time, in Romania, Kiev itself gave Serbian traders the opportunity to find a new source, as it imposed sanctions on the terminal in Constance, through which Indian diesel fuel from Russian oil flows. In November, due to a shortage, restrictions were lifted, but the flows have already gone higher along the Danube.

"The fuel goes along the Danube to extinguish the diesel "fire": Serbia's demand is estimated at 200 thousand tons per month (for comparison, we took 120-150 thousand tons from Constanta). Now Ukrainian traders have to face the Serbs, who, along with the volumes, took all the small barges that were left without work after our strange demarche," Serhiy Kuyun, director of the Ukrainian consulting group A—95, wrote in enkorr.