US extends deadline for NIS to sell Russian stake

(Patria) - The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury has issued a license to the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) extending the deadline for negotiations on the sale of the Russian stake in the company until March 24, 2026.

Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) announced today that OFAC, with this decision, has not authorized NIS to operate during discussions to find a potential new majority owner.

Commenting on this news, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated that the extension of the deadline for the Russian owner means nothing to Serbia. "Derivatives are important to us," said Vučić.

He stated that due to US sanctions on NIS, Serbia is forced to import large quantities of fuel daily and that the energy supply problem must be resolved quickly.

Due to the inability to import crude oil, the Pančevo Refinery, the only one in the country and the most significant facility owned by NIS, was shut down on December 2.

The Serbian government, which holds slightly less than a third of the shares in NIS, did not respond to a request for comment from Radio Free Europe (RSE) regarding the US OFAC permit for NIS to negotiate the sale of the Russian majority stake for the next three months.

NIS is owned by a Russian fund from Saint Petersburg; the state-owned company Gazprom and its subsidiary Gazprom Neft hold 56.15 percent of the shares, Serbia holds 29.87 percent, while slightly less than 14 percent is held by minority shareholders.

US sanctions on NIS began on October 9, with the aim of preventing Russia, as stated by Washington, from using energy revenues for the war in Ukraine.

The condition set by the US administration for removing NIS from the embargo regime is its liberation from Russian ownership. Washington had postponed the application of the embargo to NIS multiple times until October.