- Janaf seized 90,000 tons of oil from Slovnafta.
- The reason for the detention was the cancellation of deliveries to the Serbian NIS due to sanctions.
- The retained oil is worth USD 50 million, according to Slovnaft.
- The detention took place without warning and outside the agreed contract.
Croatian transport company Janaf withheld 90,000 tonnes of oil from a Slovak refinery, saying it must have this volume in the pipeline for technological purposes after it stopped supplying oil to Serbia’s NIS. The American administration imposed sanctions on the Russian owner of NIS. TASR confirmed this on Tuesday with the fact that the Slovnaft company officially informed Janaf by letter about the breach of contract.
According to Slovnaft, this is an alternative Arab Light oil, which the refinery needs to meet the needs of its foreign customers, as the EU has banned the export of Russian oil products. “The volume that is being held back is worth approximately 50 million USD (42.95 million euros) and could seriously jeopardize the supply of fuels of non-Russian origin to the Central European region,” pointed out Slovnaft spokesman Anton Molnár.
October and November were supposed to be the months when Slovnafta planned to process up to 50% of alternative non-Russian oil, given the sanctions and the export nature of the refinery, which in addition to the domestic market also supplies the Czech, Polish and Austrian markets. According to Slovnaft, Janaf withheld oil without timely notification and outside the agreed contract.
