D-Day for the Pančevo refinery; Vučić on NIS's fate: Waiting for America's response VIDEO

Vučić announced that, unfortunately, there is no good news: Serbia is still waiting for a decision from the United States regarding a license for the continued operation of NIS.&ldquo;There has been no progress regarding NIS. We were expecting a license from the U.S. government to continue supplying our Pančevo refinery. We did not receive a positive decision. I am disappointed and surprised because I do not see what they gained or what they were doing. I am trying to analyze their actions rationally and without emotions, but I do not understand it,&rdquo; he began.&ldquo;As a fact, we must accept that it is clear the Russians do not want to sell &mdash; it&rsquo;s not about money, it&rsquo;s about politics.&rdquo;He explained that JANAF did not allow the import of oil not intended for the Pančevo refinery but for Serbia&rsquo;s reserves.&ldquo;JANAF did not allow the import of oil not intended for the Pančevo refinery but for the reserves. They did not want to believe that we would not give it to NIS even though we guaranteed it. The whole of Serbia is under sanctions until the Americans say otherwise. Today is the 54th day since sanctions were introduced, and no problems have been noticed. This shows how serious the state is and how much money has been invested in oil derivatives. I believe you will be satisfied despite the consequences,&rdquo; Vučić said.The consequences are as follows:&ldquo;Since we have no indication that the Americans will make a decision, Minister Djedović will inform NIS by the end of the week that we have no expectation that the U.S. will grant a license, which will cause the refinery to stop operating. They are currently losing &euro;730,000 per day, and it is their responsibility when they shut it down. We have given permission to shut down the refinery. There is simply no good news from Washington,&rdquo; he stated.&ldquo;We have agreed, at Serbia&rsquo;s risk, to ensure payment transactions with NIS by the end of the week. This gives NIS time to pay salaries, settle with suppliers, and prepare for what comes next. After that, we will have to monitor day by day because we cannot allow the entire financial system to be destroyed. Any bank could be sanctioned for working with NIS. That would be a catastrophe for our investment rating. Whenever payment transactions stop, it causes enormous, unsolvable problems for the company. This is a problem for all of Serbia,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;When NIS uses up its reserves, as a state, after December 13, we cannot provide our reserves, because then the entire country would fall under U.S. sanctions. We will supply derivatives to everyone except NIS. Only with kerosene will there be no problems, so air traffic will function normally,&rdquo; he added.He emphasized that Serbia has enough fuel, although people may have to go to different gas stations.Additional diesel orders include 29,000 tons plus another 29,000 tons, as well as kerosene. In Pančevo there are 24,400 tons of diesel, 20,000 tons in Kovin, 9,000 tons in Požega &mdash; totaling 54,000 tons in strategic reserves.&ldquo;In total, we have over 204,000 tons of diesel, which accounts for 82% of our consumption, plus another 25,000 tons in military reserves. We also have gasoline, so there is no need to worry,&rdquo; Vučić said.Fuel oil reserves amount to 54,500 tons, while annual consumption is around 44,000 tons. Gasoline stocks total 14,533 tons, plus another 4,000 tons in strategic reserves. He noted logistical challenges, including tanker availability and fuel distribution.Vučić stressed that there are many issues, and meetings will be held daily to manage them.Regarding gas, he said Serbia does not yet have a contract. &ldquo;If we do not receive a gas agreement with Russia by Friday, we will start negotiations on Monday to procure gas from another source, so people should not worry,&rdquo; he stated. The meeting began in the building of the General Secretariat of the President of the Republic.Attendees included Serbian Prime Minister Djuro Macut, First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Sini&scaron;a Mali, Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedović Handanović, Minister of Defense Bratislav Ga&scaron;ić, and other ministers, as well as representatives of the energy sector, National Bank of Serbia Governor Jorgovanka Tabaković, the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army, and other representatives of state institutions and enterprises. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Aleksandar Vučić (@buducnostsrbijeav) Vučić previously stated that the Pančevo refinery will officially stop operating on Tuesday if the U.S. does not issue NIS a license to continue operations, and he announced that a major meeting would be held today to address the problems that would follow, as he does not expect a U.S. decision by then.According to earlier announcements, the refinery is expected to officially cease operations today if Washington does not approve the license.U.S. sanctions on NIS have been in effect since October 9.Yesterday, responding to journalists&rsquo; questions after visiting the Janković family in the village of Tolić, in the Mionica municipality, Vučić said there was no news regarding the situation with the Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS).&ldquo;I have no news, and I do not believe there will be any. A difficult period lies ahead, but we have been preparing. Tomorrow at 10:30 we have a major meeting, and we must have all measures ready by then. We will inform you of everything afterward,&rdquo; Vučić said.

D-Day for the Pančevo refinery; Vučić on NIS's fate: Waiting for America's response VIDEO

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