Serbia requests new 180-day extension for sanctioned oil company NIS
Serbia has asked the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to extend the operating licence for state oil company NIS for a fourth time, granting an additional 180 days beyond 27 June, citing energy security concerns amid Middle East tensions, Energy Minister Dubravka Đedović Handanović has announced.
NIS, majority-owned by Russian state-owned entities Gazprom Neft and Gazprom, operates Serbia’s only oil refinery.
‘Today, Europe and the world are perhaps facing the most uncertainty in the global oil market and a price increase of as much as 20% in the past two weeks, all due to the conflict in the Middle East,’ Handanović said in a statement. ‘Additional disruptions to supply chains, combined with possible sanctions against NIS, could jeopardise Serbia’s energy security in the worst possible way and negatively affect our citizens, as well as the residents of the entire region.’
The minister added that the Serbian government supports NIS’s request for the extension ‘in order to preserve the security of supply of oil and oil derivatives in Serbia and prevent serious negative consequences of the introduction of sanctions on our citizens and economy’.
NIS, a subsidiary of sanctioned Russian oil company Gazprom Neft, was designated by OFAC on 10 January as part of broader US sanctions targeting Russia’s oil sector. The company currently operates under a special licence valid until 27 June, enabling unhindered procurement and payment of crude oil for 60 days.
Handanović noted that Serbia has successfully obtained three previous postponements of sanctions against NIS.
OFAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
