Serbia’s decades-long energy partnership with Russia is under strain after U.S. sanctions on the country’s partly Russian-owned oil company disrupted supplies, payments and fuel deliveries, officials and industry sources said.
The Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), in which Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Gazprom hold a combined majority stake, was hit by U.S. sanctions last month over its links to Moscow’s energy sector. The move has left Serbia scrambling to secure oil and gas supplies and strained ties between President Aleksandar Vucic and the Kremlin.
Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said NIS’s Russian shareholders have requested a U.S. waiver to keep operations running and were ready to “transfer control and influence to a third party.” But she warned that time was running out.
Sanctions have already hit consumers. Visa and Mastercard stopped processing payments at NIS and Gazprom petrol stations, forcing customers to pay in cash. “About one in ten drivers can’t pay — mostly foreigners,” said Bojan, an employee at a motorway service station near Belgrade.
NIS operates Serbia’s two refineries and supplies more than 80% of the country’s fuel. The company relies on oil delivered through Croatia’s Janaf pipeline, which stopped shipments after sanctions took effect. Officials say crude reserves could run out by the end of November.
Serbia, a landlocked EU membership candidate that has maintained close ties with Moscow, has resisted following neighbours Bulgaria and Romania in taking over Russian-owned energy assets. Bulgaria last week passed a law allowing the state to assume control of Lukoil’s Burgas refinery ahead of U.S. sanctions taking effect on Nov. 21.
The crisis has exposed Serbia’s vulnerability. The country also depends on Russian gas, supplied under a deal that expires at the end of the year. Energy consultant Zeljko Markovic said Moscow’s reluctance to renew the agreement may be linked to concerns that Belgrade could nationalise NIS. “We can replace Russian gas, but at a higher cost,” he said.
Tensions have grown in recent months over Serbia’s arms exports, which Moscow accuses Belgrade of allowing to reach Ukraine via third countries. After an initial export ban, Vucic said last month Serbia could sell weapons to EU states, adding “what they do with them is their business.”
If Washington grants NIS a waiver, oil flows could resume. But analysts say the damage to Serbia’s energy security — and to its relationship with Moscow — may already be done.