Serbia secures US sanctions waiver for its Russian-owned NIS oil firm

By Reuters News

BELGRADE, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Serbia has secured a further sanctions waiver from the United States for ​its Russian-owned NIS NIIS.BEL oil firm until October 30, the country's outgoing energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said on Wednesday.

The waiver granted by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control will allow NIS, which operates Serbia's only oil refinery, to continue importing crude oil until the sale of a Russian majority stake in the company to Hungarian oil and gas company MOL MOLB.BU.

"This new 30-day license extension allows the Pančevo oil refinery to continue operations and produce maximum quantities of petroleum products — diesel, gasoline, kerosene, and fuel oil — the latter being particularly important for the upcoming heating season," Djedović Handanović said in a statement.

OFAC imposed sanctions on NIS last October as part of wider measures targeting Russia's energy sector over the war in Ukraine, and demanded divestment of the combined 56% stake held by Gazprom Neft and Gazprom.

The waiver is crucial for Serbia as the NIS refinery covers around 80% of the country's demand.

OFAC has granted NIS several sanctions waivers allowing it to import crude via Croatia's Janaf pipeline while MOL completes the acquisition after signing a provisional agreement in January.

The Serbian government owns 29.9% of NIS, with the remainder held by small shareholders and employees.

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