Serbia, Hungary seeking to reach agreement by end of week on Hungary's MOL purchasing Russian stake in NIS

MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Serbia and Hungary are seeking to reach an agreement by the end of the week on Hungary's MOL buying the Russian stake in Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said, as cited by Serbian media, following a meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

"We discussed the ongoing negotiations between NIS's Russian shareholders and the Hungarian company MOL, as well as several other potential partners. The goal is to conclude the negotiations by the end of the week, so that a binding agreement could be signed regarding the transfer of ownership, meaning the exit of the Russian shareholders from NIS and the purchase of their shares by the new owners," Djedovic Handanovic said.

She said earlier that the NIS oil refinery in Pancevo resumed operations on January 16, as Croatia's Janaf began transporting oil to the Serbian plant again. Production at the refinery was suspended in early December 2025 due to oil shortages caused by U.S. sanctions. On December 31, NIS received a special license from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), allowing it to continue operations without sanctions until January 23, 2026.

OFAC has extended the license permitting NIS shareholders to negotiate the sale of the Russian stake until March 24. 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 was included in the U.S. SDN List in early 2025. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said at the time that the U.S. was demanding that Serbia completely remove Russian capital from NIS.

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.