The Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) announced on Saturday that the US Treasury Department has postponed the entry into force of US sanctions against NIS for another 30 days.
The United States placed NIS on its sanctions list on January 10 due to its ownership stake in the Russian company, Gazprom Neft, in order to prevent Russia from using revenues from the energy sector for the war in Ukraine.
The sanctions were due to take effect on February 28, but their imposition was then postponed for 30 days, before being postponed again for another 30 days on March 28.
NIS said on Saturday that the US Treasury Department has issued it a new license, which allows it to carry out its operational activities without hindrance until April 28, or until sanctions are lifted, whichever comes first.
NIS thanked the Government of Serbia and all other domestic and foreign institutions that supported the request sent to the US Treasury Department.
Russian companies, Gazprom Neft and Gazprom, own the majority of shares in NIS (56.15 percent), while Serbia owns almost a third of the shares.
In 2008, Serbia sold 51 percent of the shares of the NIS company to the Russian state-owned company, Gazprom Neft, for a price of 400 million euros, without a tender.
In May 2022, due to new sanctions announced by the European Union, Gazprom Neft sold six percent of its shares to Gazprom, the parent company that is not yet under sanctions by the European bloc.
NIS is the only company in Serbia that deals with the exploration, production and processing of oil, as well as the production of natural gas.
It owns more than 400 gas stations in Serbia and in the countries of the region – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Bulgaria.
Crude oil processing is carried out at the Pančevo Oil Refinery, which operates within the NIS system./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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