Kojcic: Investment plan of the Ministry foresees new crude oil supply routes
In order to ensure a stable supply of crude oil and diversify supply routes, the Ministry of Mining and Energy in its investment plan defined a possibility of an alternative supply of crude oil. One of the options is to connect to the Druzhba oil pipeline and build a connection with Hungary, which would also imply the possibility that the market in Serbia, in addition to other types of crude oil, will continue to be supplied only with Russian oil, said Rasa Kojcic, Assistant Minister of Mining and of Energy, guesting on Tanjug TV.
“There are two options for connecting to the Druzhba oil pipeline. The first option would be the construction of the oil pipeline to Szeged, to Aldja. The route of that oil pipeline, which would provide partial capacity for supplying the refinery in Pančevo, would be about 128 km long, out of which 104 km are on the territory of Serbia, an the second option for connection to the Druzhba oil pipeline near Budapest is the construction of an oil pipeline from Novi Sad to Sazhalombata which is 400 kilometers long. The capacity of the oil pipeline would be in line with the refining capacity of the domestic refinery in Pancevo. The Ministry has already foreseen this possibility and included in its investment plan relevant projects that involve the construction of new oil pipelines, in addition to the existing Adriatic oil pipeline. The connection to the Druzhba oil pipeline also leads to the possibility that the market in Serbia will continue to be able to purchase only Russian crude oil," he said.
Kojcic emphasized that after the adoption of the eighth package of EU sanctions in which the countries of the Western Balkans are not exempted from the ban on the import of crude oil from Russia by sea, no problems are expected in the supply of crude oil and that the stability of the market will not be threatened.
"We have known about the decision to ban the import of Russian oil for several months. It was announced in May and it is part of the sixth package of EU sanctions. Also, NIS has an agreement with JANAF that until the beginning of December there will be a passage for Russian crude oil. Apart from that, NIS has been purchasing other types of crude oil until now, such as Kirkuk. At one point, Russian oil was cheaper, so the percentage of that oil in the overall sourcing was higher. Now the place of Russian crude oil will be taken by crude oil from some other country. As before, there are no problems in the supply of crude oil to the domestic refinery, which is most important and the security of supply is not threatened," he said.