Serbia supports talks between Russian owners of the country’s sanctioned oil company NIS and Hungary’s MOL over the sale of a majority stake, the Tanjug news agency reported on Thursday, citing Serbia’s energy minister.
“The Hungarian government has supported these talks, and we, as the government, will also provide support to find a solution for lifting the sanctions,” Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic was quoted as saying.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier this week that MOL was in discussions with Russian shareholders over a potential sale.
Russia’s Gazprom owns an 11.3% stake in NIS, while its oil unit Gazprom Neft – which is under Western sanctions – holds 44.9%. The Serbian government owns 29.9%, with the remainder held by small shareholders and employees.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) granted NIS until March 24 to negotiate the sale of its Russian owner’s stake, but did not approve an operating licence that would allow the company to purchase and process crude oil.
OFAC imposed sanctions on NIS in October as part of broader measures targeting Russia’s energy sector, following a series of temporary waivers granted since January.
The sanctions have halted crude supplies via Croatia’s JANAF pipeline, forcing the shutdown of production at NIS’s refinery in Pancevo, Serbia’s only oil refinery.