The United States has postponed sanctions on the Russian-owned Serbian oil company NIS for the sixth time. The company operates the only oil refinery in Serbia.

Source : Reuters, citing Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Đedović Handanović

Quote : "The goal is the removal of NIS from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list." 

Details : Reuters reports that it was Serbian officials who succeeded in securing the latest postponement of the sanctions.

NIS, owned 44.9% by Gazprom Neft, 11.3% by Gazprom (GAZP.MM), and 29.9% by the Serbian government, operates the country’s only oil refinery, located in Pančevo near Belgrade.

On 26 February, Gazprom Neft transferred a 5.15% stake in NIS to Gazprom in an attempt to avoid sanctions.

The Pančevo refinery has an annual capacity of 4.8 million tonnes and supplies most of Serbia’s oil needs. Sanctions may jeopardise its supply of crude via the Croatian company Janaf.

Background : In April, it was reported that NIS, in which Russian energy giant Gazprom holds a majority stake, had almost lost the ability to supply oil to the Serbian market due to US sanctions.

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