MOL increasing oil exports to Serbia but not in position to cover demands of this market entirely - Szijjarto
MOSCOW. Oct 15 (Interfax) - Hungary's MOL has already increased oil exports to Serbia in the interests of Gazprom Neft subsidiary NIS, to whom Croatia's JANAF stopped supplying the feedstock due to U.S. sanctions, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto told journalists at the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week (REW 2025) forum.
Szijjarto also said that MOL was not in a position to cover all of the demand on the Serbian market by itself.
"On its own, MOL cannot provide all of the fuel which the Serbian fuel market needs to function. Nonetheless, the company is doing all it can. They have increased exports and are continuing to increase them in order to help Serbia," Szijjarto said.
He said Serbia's example showed the dangers of a country's dependence on a single pipeline infrastructure.
Asked whether MOL had expressed interest in purchasing Russia's stake in NIS, Szijjarto said he was unaware of any talks.
Earlier, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said U.S. sanctions against NIS were unavoidable - they went into effect on October 8. "There will be problems with crude, but we have sufficient reserves," he said, adding that the Pancevo refinery would be able to operate without oil supplies until November 1.
NIS said this week that it had taken all possible measures to ensure undisrupted operations and fuel sales to customers. It is working with partners, the government, and shareholders to "overcome the current situation." NIS also continues to work with the US Treasury Department on its request to be removed from the SDN List, but this is a lengthy and complex process, the company said.
JANAF, the Croatian operator of the Adriatic oil pipeline, has said it can no longer supply oil to the Serbian company. At the same time, the Croatian authorities are saying they are willing to purchase Russia's stake in NIS.
NIS, being a subsidiary of Russia's Gazprom Neft, was included in the U.S. SDN List in early 2025. In this regard, Vucic has said that the U.S. demands the complete withdrawal of Russian capital from NIS. At the same time, he said that the Serbian government transferred control of it to Gazprom Neft in 2008, and over the years, the Russian company has contributed to generating significant revenues to the Serbian budget, as well as the development of many projects.
Currently, the main co-owners of NIS are Gazprom Neft with 44.85% and the Serbian authorities with 29.87%, while another 11.3% of NIS shares belong to JSC Intelligence, which is managed by Gazprom Capital LLC, which holds, among other things, the financial investments of the Gazprom Group . Gazprom directly owns one NIS share, and the Serbian company has minority shareholders, as well.
NIS is the only company in Serbia that explores for and produces hydrocarbons. The company has a large oil refinery in Pancevo and dominates Serbia's oil product market. NIS also has a chain of more than 400 filling stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Romania.
