January 05, 2026 [SeeNews]- Serbia has put into operation four new tanks for the storage of oil products in the eastern city of Smederevo, energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said.

“Our long-term goal is to strengthen energy security and increase energy reserves,” Djedovic Handanovic wrote in a social media post last week.

The tanks will now begin filling with a total of 67,000 tons of Euro diesel, she added. The construction of two new storage tanks at the site has also been completed, and they will be able to store a total of 35,000 tons of petrol.

News agency Tanjug quoted energy ministry as saying in 2023 that the total value of the investment in the storage tanks amounted to 4 billion dinars ($40 million/ 34 million euro).

Last month, Forbes Serbia reported that the Balkan country stores its reserves of oil derivatives in the facilities of state-owned oil pipeline operator Transnafta, the state directorate for commodity reserves and its sole refiner, the U.S.-sanctioned and Russian-controlled NIS, as well as with two domestic private storage companies and in warehouses in Germany. Forbes Serbia cited energy ministry as saying at the time that the exact locations of storage sites were confidential.

NIS was forced to shut down its 4.8 mt/y Pancevo refinery – Serbia’s only – last month after U.S. sanctions against the company came into effect, blocking its only crude import route via Croatia’s Janaf. Last week, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control granted a licence to NIS to continue operating through January 23, and to Janaf to restart crude oil deliveries to the Serbian company, after NIS and Hungary’s MOL informed it that they are in sale talks for the 56.15% Russian-owned stake in NIS.

On Sunday, Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vucic said that the Pancevo refinery is expected to restart operations on January 17 or 18.

After NIS started closing the Pancevo refinery in December, the government in Belgrade said it was finalising an action plan outlining steps to place mandatory oil derivatives reserves on the market.

Last week, Tanjug quoted Djedovic Handanovic as saying that Serbia had stocks of oil derivatives sufficient for the smooth supply of citizens and the economy until January 20-25, without specifying exact amounts.