The United States has given Serbia a three-month deadline to find a new owner for oil company NIS, whose majority shareholders are Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Gazprom, both of which are under US sanctions.
Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Đedović said the US Treasury Department, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), informed Belgrade that it will not accept a partial change in ownership. Washington is demanding a complete withdrawal of Russian companies from NIS.
She explained that Serbia has been authorized to negotiate a transfer of ownership until 13 February. Until a new arrangement is finalized, both the company and its refinery will be unable to operate.
The sanctions, in effect since 8 October, are part of a broader US package targeting Russia’s energy sector. Although punitive measures against NIS were delayed multiple times, they are now fully enforced and cannot be postponed. As a result, banks have stopped processing transactions related to NIS, and Croatian pipeline operator JANAF has suspended crude oil shipments. Estimates indicate that the refinery can continue operating only until around 25 November without fresh supplies.
Minister Đedović said Serbia may consider taking ownership of NIS, although President Aleksandar Vučić has spoken against such a move.
NIS’s current ownership structure includes 44.9 percent held by Gazprom Neft, 11.3 percent by Gazprom through its subsidiary Intelligence, 29.9 percent owned by the Serbian state, and the remainder held by small shareholders and employees.
