The Russians, as one of the solutions for the sanctions against the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), propose that the company buy a portion of American oil.
The Russian side in the negotiations regarding the U.S. sanctions, the implementation of which has been postponed until October 8, proposes that the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) buy a portion of American oil, which would be one of the solutions for this situation, Tanjug learns.
Thus, if the U.S. accepts this proposal, NIS would procure a solid quantity of American oil and deliver it via the Adriatic Pipeline (JANAF), which would be mixed with other crude oil and enter the so-called NIS oil basket.
Also, the option for NIS to completely switch to processing American oil to continue operating without sanctions is not realistic, as our refinery is not technologically configured for that.
Unofficially, one of the proposals from the Russian side is that one of the American companies take over the 11.3 percent stake that Gazprom transferred to its subsidiary Intelligence, but the question remains open as to how acceptable this would be to both sides.
The US Department of the Treasury issued a new special license on September 30 that postponed the full-scale entry into force of sanctions against NIS and enables the company to perform its operational activities unimpeded until October 8, 2025, at the latest, NIS announced on Wednesday.
According to the latest postponement, the sanctions against NIS were supposed to take effect on October 1, but after negotiations led by President Aleksandar Vučić, the American side decided to move the deadline by another eight days.
The Adriatic Pipeline (JANAF) announced on Wednesday that it received a license from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to continue executing the contract for the transport of crude oil with the company NIS until October 8.
The company added that it will contact OFAC in the coming days, through its American legal representative and with the support of the Croatian Government, with a request to extend the license.
Vučić Confirmed the Russian Proposal
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, stated in Copenhagen that the information that the Russian side proposed that NIS buy a portion of American oil so that it could continue to operate due to the announced American sanctions is accurate, but he is not sure that the U.S. will accept it.
When asked by a journalist whether the information published by the media that the Russian side allegedly proposed that a part of NIS be actually given to the American side, i.e., that a part of the shares be sold to Americans, and that NIS buy a portion of American oil as a compromise solution with the United States that would go through the Adriatic Pipeline, is accurate, Vučić said: “They are (accurate), but the question is whether the Americans will accept it. Someone has to tell us whether the Americans will accept it; I’m not sure about that, but we hope they will,” Vučić said.
As he said, he does not believe that the Americans are seeking their financial interest.
“I think there’s a bigger game at stake. But I would like to be wrong. I wish the Russians had found a magic formula to solve this problem. But do I believe in it and am I sure? Unfortunately, I’m afraid my nose is good at recognizing difficult situations. I would never even talk to the people about a difficult situation; we would find some solution. I am afraid that things will be much more difficult than that,” Vučić said.
He previously said that at the European Political Community summit in Copenhagen, all the concentration of European leaders was focused on Ukraine.
“And we have to look now, we will have a lot of problems from the end of October 8th and 9th, and we have to look at how to solve our own problems,” Vučić said.
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Source: B92, Euronews; Photo: OLIVER BUNIC / AFP