American sanctions on Serbian oil giant NIS

Serbia’s NIS industry was included in the list of sanctions published today (10.1.2025 ) by the United States Treasury (USA) due to its ownership stake owned by Russian company Gazprom Neft. NIS was sanctioned because of the so-called ‘second risk’, i.e. its association with Russian Gazprom Neft. The U.S. Treasury has announced that it is taking comprehensive measures to meet its commitment to reduce Russian energy revenues (e.g. from oil and gas) used for the war against Ukraine. CORVERSE The relevant announcement was received by the Serbian government and the President of the Republic Aleksandar Vucic convened a meeting with the Energy and Finance Ministers as well as with experts on energy crises. NIS was included in the list of six companies that “are owned or controlled, act or allegedly act on behalf of directly or indirectly, Gazprom Neft”. Russian state company Gazprom Neft and its parent company Gazprom have held 56.15% of NIS shares since 2008, while 29.87% belong to the Serbian state. Serbia supplies fuel exclusively from Russia. Slow oil arrives by tanker at a Croatian port and from there through the old Yugoslav JANAF pipeline is transferred to Serbia. Of harsh sanctions was spoken by Aleksandar Vucic revealing part of the content of the US decision. “These are the strictest sanctions that affect a company in Serbia and require full exit of Russian capital and Russian interests from NIS. The company will be able to resume operations, but we must proceed immediately with the ownership change plan and this should be approved by the United States. We will have 45 days for all interventions, with a deadline of 25 February. Until then, we must finish everything with Russia. We have the possibility for an extension until 10 March to complete the special economic transaction with Russia, but this should also be approved by the US Treasury,” Vucic said. It is noted that the president of Serbia a few days ago expressed his country’s desire to buy the stock package held by Gazprom Neft in NIS. He even mentioned his intention to discuss the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. To date however, there has been no reply from Moscow nor has any intention been made by Gazprom Neft to sell its shares to the Serbian oil company.