Serbia’s Oil Industry (NIS) announced on Saturday that the U.S. Department of the Treasury has postponed the implementation of U.S. sanctions against NIS for another 30 days.
The United States placed NIS on the sanctions list on January 10 due to its involvement with the Russian company Gazprom Neft, aiming to prevent Russia from using energy sector revenues to fund the war in Ukraine.
The sanctions were supposed to take effect on February 28, but their implementation was then postponed by 30 days, before being delayed again for another 30 days on March 28.
NIS said on Saturday that the U.S. Department of the Treasury had issued a new license, allowing the company to conduct its operational activities without hindrance until April 28, or until the sanctions are lifted, if that happens sooner.
NIS thanked the Government of Serbia and all other domestic and foreign institutions that supported its request sent to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Russian companies Gazprom Neft and Gazprom own the majority of shares in NIS (56.15%), while Serbia owns nearly a third of the shares.
In 2008, Serbia sold 51% of the shares in NIS to the Russian state-owned company Gazprom Neft for 400 million euros, without a tender.
In May 2022, due to new sanctions imposed by the European Union, Gazprom Neft sold 6% of its shares to Gazprom, the parent company that is still not under EU sanctions.
NIS is the only company in Serbia engaged in the exploration, production, and processing of oil, as well as the production of natural gas.
It owns over 400 fuel stations in Serbia and neighboring countries – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, and Bulgaria.
Crude oil refining takes place at the Oil Refinery in Pančevo, which operates within the NIS system.
