By Aleksandar Vasovic
BELGRADE (Reuters) -Serbia is in last minute talks with the United States and Russia ahead of a Thursday deadline to avoid U.S. sanctions on oil company NIS that could result in crude supply cuts, Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said on Wednesday.
Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Gazprom hold stakes of 50% and 6.15% respectively in NIS, which operates Serbia’s sole oil refinery in Pancevo, just outside the capital Belgrade.
The U.S. placed sanctions on Russia’s oil sector on January 10, and gave Gazprom Neft 45 days to exit ownership of NIS. The deadline expires at 0600 local time (0500 GMT) on Thursday, Djedovic Handanovic said in a live TV broadcast on Wednesday.
“We are continuing talks with both the United States and Russia to reach a solution,” Djedovic Handanovic said.
Serbia, an historical ally with Russia, has submitted a formal request to the U.S. Treasury Department for a waiver of sanctions for 90 days to allow it to consider a “sustainable solution that would lead to the lifting of sanctions”.
A failure to secure a waiver would pose a major risk for its oil imports, as NIS, which supplies about 80% of the domestic retail market with crude oil and gas derivatives, would not be able to import crude oil through Croatia’s pipeline operator Janaf.
Serbia has been working to shore up its fuel supplies. Djedovic Handanovic said that the government has enough to supply the market for at least three months.
The Belgrade stock exchange BELEX suspended trading of NIS shares on Jan. 14, citing the introduction of the U.S. sanctions.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Louise Heavens and Edward McAllister)
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