NIS oil refinery in Pancevo to deliver first fuel to Serbian consumers on Jan 27 following shutdown
MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - The Pancevo Oil Refinery owned by Serbia's NIS Group has initiated start-up activities after production was suspended and expects to deliver its first fuel to Serbian consumers on January 27, NIS said in a press release.
"Bearing in mind the imported quantities of crude oil, as well as crude oil produced on domestic oil fields, it is planned that the refinery will operate throughout February, while further work will be in line with the decisions on approving the company's operational activities," NIS said.
The suspension of production at the refinery was also used to perform equipment overhauls.
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. The Pancevo refinery resumed operations on January 16, as Croatia's Janaf began transporting oil to the Serbian plant again.
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.
Serbia and Hungary hope to reach an agreement before long on Hungary's MOL buying the Russian stake in NIS, Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said following a meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto last week.
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.
