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Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Gjedovic Handanovic, held a meeting on July 21 with Russian Deputy Minister of Energy, Pavel Sorokin, and Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto, to discuss the implementation of the project for the construction of an oil pipeline between Serbia and Hungary.
After the meeting, Gjedovic Handanovic stated that there is support from the governments of Serbia, Hungary and Russia for this project, which, according to her, would provide Serbia with an additional source of crude oil supply over the coming decades, the Serbian Ministry of Mining and Energy announced.
"The construction of this pipeline will give Serbia the opportunity to secure crude oil supplies through Hungary, further strengthening the country's energy security. Diversifying supply sources is important to be more secure and less dependent on a single source, especially in the increasingly unstable geopolitical context ," she said.
She added that through this oil pipeline, Serbia would be connected for the first time to one of the largest oil pipelines in Europe and would provide an alternative source of supply.
Meanwhile, according to Szijjarto, the oil pipeline between the two countries could have an annual transport capacity of up to five million tons.
"A new 180-kilometer-long oil pipeline needs to be built on Hungarian territory and, if everything goes according to plan, this new pipeline could be operational by 2027 ," said the Hungarian foreign minister.
Serbia and Hungary had agreed to build this oil pipeline in October 2022, which would enable Serbia to be supplied with cheaper oil from the Urals through a connection to the Russian Druzhba ("Friendship") oil pipeline.
Authorities in Belgrade made this decision after Croatia banned the transport of Russian oil at the end of 2022, in line with European Union sanctions against Russia due to its aggression in Ukraine.
Despite the European Union's objections, both countries — Serbia and Hungary — continue to maintain close ties with Russia.
Gjedovic Handanovic said that the design and technical documentation in Serbia will be ready for the start of works at the beginning of next year, 2026.
It was previously announced that construction work on the Serbia-Hungary oil pipeline could begin by the end of this year.
She also emphasized that in the coming period, the commercial aspect of the project is expected to be determined, as well as the oil capacities needed by the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS).
The NIS company has been placed on the US sanctions list since January due to the so-called "secondary risk", related to its ownership by the Russian company Gazprom Neft, which is under Western sanctions due to the war in Ukraine.
The United States has four times postponed the full implementation of sanctions against NIS, which were announced due to Russian ownership.
On July 18, NIS announced that it had submitted a new request to the US Treasury Department to postpone the full implementation of sanctions, and to enable the company's operations to continue.
According to the official NIS website, on March 14 the company also submitted a request to the US Treasury Department for removal from the sanctions list (Specially Designated Nationals), describing it as a "complex process."
NIS is the only company in Serbia engaged in oil exploration, production and processing, as well as natural gas production. It has over 13,000 employees.
Meanwhile, Gazprom Neft has transferred about five percent of its shares to the Russian company Gazprom, which is not subject to Western sanctions. As a result, Gazprom Neft's stake in NIS has fallen below 50 percent (44.85%).
However, even with this change in ownership structure, Russian companies continue to hold the majority of shares in NIS./ REL
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