Serbia has asked the US Treasury to delay sanctions against NIS for 180 days

The Serbian authorities have sent a letter to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury with a request to postpone the imposition of sanctions against the Serbian company Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) and extend the license for another 180 days after the end of the previous deadline, which will come on June 27. This was announced on June 24 by Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Jedovic-Handanovic.

"The Serbian government has asked OFAC for a new postponement of sanctions against NIS in order to extend the current NIS work permit for another 180 days after June 27 in order to maintain the security of oil and petroleum products supplies to Serbia," she wrote on Facebook (the social network belongs to Meta, a company whose activities are recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation)..

According to Djedovic-Handanovic, the appeal to OFAC was made to ensure the stability of oil and petroleum products supplies to the domestic market, as well as to prevent serious consequences for the country's population and economy after the possible imposition of sanctions. She stressed that the situation on the global oil market remains unstable due to the escalation in the Middle East, with prices rising by 20% over the past two weeks.

In addition, the minister added that Serbia will do everything to ensure that its citizens and economy "do not suffer from any consequences."

The majority shareholder of NIS is the Russian company Gazprom Neft, which owns 56.15% of the shares. The restrictions against NIS were imposed by the United States as part of the anti-Russian sanctions.

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on January 5 that in the event of sanctions from the American side, the country is ready to buy out the Russian stake in NIS. He added that if, according to estimates, the value of the company is €1 billion, then the share can be bought out for about €600 million.