Pančevo Refinery Waits on JANAF Crude as EPS Imports a Quarter of Power

Crude oil has not flowed to Serbia's only refinery, NIS's plant in Pančevo, since a rupture on the Croatian JANAF pipeline on Friday, 6 November, while the state power utility EPS is importing roughly a quarter of the electricity Serbia uses. NIS says the market is fully supplied, and an energy analyst said on Tuesday, 10 November, that the pipeline should be fixed within five to ten days.

The JANAF rupture and NIS stocks

The pipeline was damaged during upgrade works on the section between Sisak and Slavonski Brod, and JANAF suspended transport. About 500 cubic metres of oil leaked into the excavation channel; around 200 had been collected by the weekend, and JANAF said there was no danger to residents or drinking water. NIS said it has sufficient fuel stocks, that the market is supplied with all petroleum products and that, for now, crude processing in Pančevo has not been reduced.

Energy analyst Željko Marković told RTS that the damage as described should be repairable in five to ten days, though hidden problems at the rupture site could take longer. He noted that the refinery ran on reserves for almost a month during an earlier sanctions-related interruption, and said trouble could start if the outage lasted around a month. Low Danube water levels limit how much crude can be brought by river. About 80% of the crude Serbia processes is imported.

Electricity imports and EPS costs

Marković also said imports covered about 26% of Serbia's electricity consumption in October, with a similar pattern in early November, because of drought, lower hydropower output, coal problems and outages at ageing thermal plants. He estimated that imports were costing EPS around 7 to 9 million euros a day and that the utility could need about 300 million euros for power purchases through the end of the year. EPS has not published its own figures on import costs. He urged households and companies to save electricity.

What it means this winter

Neither problem has so far reached consumers: pumps are supplied and no power restrictions have been announced. But both land on the desk of the incoming government, which will have to decide how to fund EPS's purchases and how to secure crude supply for NIS while the company's ownership change under US sanctions is still being worked out.