Russian Crude Oil Imports To Be Banned as of November,  State Will Obtain Oil from Other Countries

Zorana Mihajlovic (BETAPHOTO/MINISTRY OF MINING AND ENERGY/ZORAN PETROVIC/MO)

The EU's sixth package of sanctions against Russia means that it will no longer be possible to buy crude oil from this country as of Nov. 1 and that the Naftna Industrija Srbije company will have to procure oil from other suppliers on the market, Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said on Aug. 23.

She told reporters in  Krusevac that the state had in the past procured oil from other suppliers in addition to Russia and that she believed that this would not affect the market in Serbia.

The minister said that around 50 percent of oil came from Russia, 30 percent from other suppliers and 20 percent was domestic crude oil.

Mihajlovic said that the Serbian army would help the Srbijasume utility company deforest forest roads, and that all producers of pellets would receive the necessary amounts of raw wood, as well as that the authorities expected a full stabilization of the market in the next 10 days.

"We have limited the price of pellets, banned exports and are on the way to a full stabilization of the market," the minister said adding that around 110,000 homes used pellets for heating while a million used wood for heating and that the state had done everything in its power for all categories to be provided with the fuel that they needed.