(ANSA) - BELGRADE, JAN 12 - Serbia will resume receiving crude oil from Croatia via the Adriatic Pipeline (Janaf) starting at midnight, according to Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Djedović Handanović, as reported by Belgrade's public television. Crude oil deliveries to the Serbian refinery in Pancevo were halted last October due to US sanctions imposed on the Serbian hydrocarbon giant NIS, which is controlled by Russia's Gazprom. The approval for crude oil to enter Serbia through Croatia is linked to Washington's decision, announced in early January, to grant NIS temporary market access until January 23, in anticipation of a possible acquisition of the Russian shareholding, for which the Hungarian giant MOL is reportedly in the running. "Good news," said Djedović Handanović, quoted by Serbian media, noting that "the first oil will arrive in Serbia via the Adriatic Pipeline." "The Pančevo refinery will start operating around January 16, or before the end of the week," she added. (ANSA).