US grants sanctions waiver to Serbia's Russia-owned NIS oil firm until March 20

A drone view shows Serbia's majority Russian-owned NIS oil refinery in Pancevo, Serbia. | Photo Credit: MARKO DJURICA

The ​US Treasury Department has extended a sanctions waiver ‌on Serbia’s Russian-owned NIS until March 20, ​giving the Balkan country another month ⁠to import crude oil supplies, energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said on Friday.

The US Office of ‌Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on NIS in October as part ‌of broader measures targeting Russia’s energy sector ‌over ⁠Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

“NIS will ⁠now be able to import crude oil, ... and to continue to supply market with crude oil products,” ​Djedovic Handanovic said in ‌a statement.

Last December, the OFAC gave NIS until late March to negotiate the divestment of majority stakes held by ‌Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Gazprom.

On January 19, ​Hungary’s MOL said it had signed a binding agreement with Russian companies ⁠to buy their stake in NIS, which operates Serbia’s only oil refinery in the ‌town of Pancevo, just outside Belgrade.

Djedovic Handanovic said she plans to travel to the US next week to seek solutions for sanctions against NIS.

“The talks between Gazprom Neft and MOL, in which ‌we are included, are continuing. Next week we will ​have intensive talks ... to improve our position,” she said.

MOL said the ⁠UAE’s ADNOC would be a minority stakeholder ⁠in NIS.

Gazprom and Gazprom Neft hold 11.3 per cent and 44.9 per cent stakes in NIS, respectively. ‌The Serbian government has a 29.9 per cent stake, while the remainder belongs to small ​shareholders and employees. 

Published on February 21, 2026