JANAF estimated that approximately 500,000 liters of crude oil spilled near Nova Gradiška, Croatia, prompting cleanup operations and raising concerns about crude oil supplies to Serbia.
The company has begun extracting the oil remaining inside the affected pipeline section. Crews are transferring the crude into tanker trucks through a closed system before transporting it to JANAF terminals.
JANAF said repairs to the damaged pipeline section would begin after the extraction and cleanup operations are completed. The company added that it remains in contact with Serbia’s oil company NIS as work progresses.
Meanwhile, Miloš Banjac, an energy expert at the University of Belgrade, estimated that Serbia’s existing oil reserves could cover two to three months without regular crude oil deliveries.
He said the reserves would provide temporary relief, but the duration of the pipeline repairs and the availability of reserve crude will determine how much oil the Serbian refinery can process in the coming weeks.
NIS has reported that its filling stations have fuel stocks, but the situation at retail stations does not necessarily reflect the availability of crude oil needed to maintain refinery operations.
