The Trump administration formally notified the US Congress this week that it had imposed sanctions on Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), which is majority-owned by Russian energy giants Gazprom and Gazprom Neft.
This move, which took effect a few days ago, immediately prompted Croatia to suspend crude supplies via the JANAF pipeline, raising fears that Serbia’s sole refinery could halt operations within weeks.
NIS, which supplies the bulk of Serbia’s fuel, said its refinery will struggle to run past Nov. 1 without new deliveries, despite assurances from the company that it has secured enough oil to continue for now.
Senate welcomes ‘decisive move’
In a pointed statement released on Wednesday, a bipartisan group of influential US senators lauded the administration’s action, framing the sanctions as a necessary step to counter Moscow’s influence in the Balkans.
Senator Jim Risch (R-ID), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a leading Democrat on foreign policy, along with Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Roger Wicker (R-MS), issued a joint statement: “We welcome the Trump Administration’s decision to impose sanctions on NIS, the Russian-owned Serbian oil company,” the senators wrote, adding, “For far too long, Russia has used energy as a weapon for economic coercion to advance its malign agenda in Europe and financially sustain Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine”
The statement then directly addressed the bilateral relationship and pressured Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, whose country is an EU candidate but has refused to join international sanctions against Moscow.
“We value our bilateral relationship with Serbia, which is why we have communicated with President Vučić on a number of occasions that Russia’s majority stake in NIS undermines his stated intention to pursue a path toward European Union membership,” the senators said.
“Serbia now stands at a ‘crossroads’ between continued exposure to Russia’s malign influence and a future with the European Union with full access to the European market,” they emphasized.
“A decisive move away from Russian energy could open a new chapter with the United States: one of deeper cooperation, stronger economic ties and closer alignment between our governments, businesses and our people. We hope that President Vučić will prioritize the economic and security interests of the Serbian people,” the statement concludes.
Implications for Serbia’s energy security
The fallout from Washington’s decision to decline the renewal of NIS operational license has plunged Serbia into a profound energy security crisis, subjecting the Russian-majority-owned company to full US and secondary sanctions.
The immediate operational challenge is severe: the license denial has triggered the immediate cessation of crude deliveries via the JANAF pipeline, which functions as the country’s primary crude artery.
This cut-off forces Belgrade to rapidly establish alternative logistical routes to supply its Pančevo refinery, which processes 4.8 million metric tons annually, US officials said on Wednesday.
According to them, these US measures compound pressures already in place. NIS, a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom Neft, along with its parent Gazprom, was previously targeted by sanctions imposed by the UK earlier this year.
The immediate deadline for the crisis looms large. Vučić has confirmed that the Pančevo refinery can only operate until Nov. 1 using existing crude stocks.
If a new, sanctions-compliant supply mechanism – one that successfully circumvents the JANAF pipeline and secures a non-sanctioned buyer or processor – is not established by this date, the refinery is likely to halt operations.
The gravity of the situation forces Vučić to confront a critical geopolitical decision.
For years, he has pursued a dual policy of close ties with Moscow while seeking EU integration, a strategy symbolized by the Russian majority stake in NIS. The current crisis demands he choose between retaining that Russian stake and moving decisively toward Western alignment to secure the nation’s long-term energy needs.
Alternatives, such as importing finished fuels via the Danube River or by rail and truck, are logistically insufficient to meet national demand and highly susceptible to volatile price hikes, suggesting that a fundamental and immediate change in NIS’s ownership structure is the only sustainable long-term solution.