Serbia has authorized oil companies to temporarily use their mandatory operational diesel stocks as exceptionally low water levels on the Danube restrict fuel imports and increase pressure on domestic supply chains.
The Ministry of Mining and Energy said river deliveries had fallen sharply and could not be fully replaced by rail and road transport. Energy Minister Dubravka Đedović Handanović estimated that river transport was operating at only 30–40% of normal capacity.
The measure is intended to prevent shortages and limit upward pressure on retail prices while import logistics remain constrained. Companies will be required to replenish the released volumes once transport conditions normalize.
The decision does not involve Serbia’s strategic state-owned fuel reserves. It instead concerns operational stocks held by market participants as part of their mandatory supply-security obligations.
The Pančevo refinery, operated by NIS, continues to run at full capacity. The government also plans to extend the refinery’s operating authorization beyond its current 31 July expiry date, allowing crude processing to continue without interruption.
Serbia has separately reduced excise duties on petroleum products by 20%. Government officials, NIS and the Association of Oil Companies of Serbia have reviewed commercial inventories and alternative import routes to assess whether additional intervention is necessary.
The episode illustrates the continued importance of river logistics to Serbia’s fuel market. The Danube provides a comparatively efficient route for transporting crude and petroleum products, while rail and road alternatives have higher costs and more limited short-term capacity.
Releasing operational reserves can bridge a temporary disruption but does not solve the underlying transport bottleneck. A prolonged period of low water could raise freight costs, complicate refinery feedstock planning and require further fiscal or inventory measures to prevent wholesale-market pressure from passing through to consumers.
