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Serbia's Russian-owned oil company NIS, which operates the country's only oil refinery, has applied for a new U.S. sanctions waiver to continue operations after its current license expires July 1, the company said Friday.
Without the waiver, NIS, which supplies up to 80% of the Serbian market and is majority owned by Russia's Gazprom Neft and Gazprom, cannot import or process crude oil.
In a request to the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, NIS said the waiver was needed for "the regular work ... for the orderly supply of the domestic market." The company also pointed to advanced negotiations on changes to its ownership structure.
Russia's Gazprom Neft is negotiating the sale of its stake in NIS as a deadline nears, its chief executive, Alexander Dyukov, said Thursday, while warning that the process "will take time."
NIS, the acronym for the Petroleum Industry of Serbia, has faced U.S. sanctions since January 2025 over Russia's war in Ukraine.
Washington has been pushing for the divestment of the Russian stake, while NIS has secured a series of temporary waivers in the interim.
OFAC imposed sanctions against NIS in October over its Russian ownership as part of broader measures targeting Moscow's energy sector following its invasion of Ukraine.
OFAC also gave Hungarian oil and gas company MOL until July 1 to complete negotiations over the acquisition of the 56.16% stake in NIS held by Gazprom Neft and Gazprom. Serbia holds a 29.9% stake in NIS.
Washington is demanding that Gazprom Neft and its sister company, both subsidiaries of Russian energy giant Gazprom, sell their combined 56% stake as a condition for sanctions to be lifted.
"At the moment, we are negotiating the sale of shares. It is a complex transaction, and it takes time to reach an agreement. The process is ongoing," Dyukov told a shareholders' meeting, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.
He did not say who the talks were with, but Hungarian oil and gas company MOL is the only potential bidder to have publicly expressed interest.
The sanctions, introduced in January 2025, have been repeatedly postponed to allow time to complete the sale.
They were in force only between October and December, forcing NIS to halt production at its only oil refinery for several weeks because of a lack of crude.
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Temporary licenses have been granted again since late December, after talks with MOL were announced.
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control recently extended until July 1 the operating license and deadline for MOL and Gazprom to complete negotiations.
Serbia remains a close Kremlin ally and is one of the few European countries not to impose sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine.
The Balkan country sold a majority stake in NIS to Gazprom in 2008 for 400 million euros, about $454 million at current exchange rates. Serbia now owns about 30%.
Officials say Serbia intends to raise its stake by 5% after the sale.
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