Gazprom is talking to the Hungarian MOL. It is about the sale of a Serbian concern

The Russian oil company Gazprom is in talks with the Hungarian MOL regarding the sale of a majority stake in the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) company, which is subject to American sanctions, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday.

– We have information that Gazprom representatives are talking, among others, with the Hungarian MOL and we have nothing against it. Hungarians are our friends, said Vucic.

The President of Serbia also announced that Belgrade's gas supply agreement with Moscow will be extended for another three months.

In January, the US included NIS on the list of companies subject to sanctions in order to – as it was announced – prevent the financing of the war in Ukraine with money from Russian energy companies. The restrictions came into force at the beginning of October. Banks then stopped processing NIS payments and Croatia's JANAF pipeline stopped supplying oil to its refineries.

Washington aims to completely eliminate Russian capital from the NIS. On November 15, the American side gave the company until February 13 to find a buyer for the Russian shares.

Since 2008, the majority shareholders in NIS are Gazprom and Gazprom Neft, the oil company of Gazprom, which owns approximately 96 percent. its shares. At that time, Gazprom Neft owned 50 percent. shares in NIS, the Serbian state – 29.87 percent, and Gazprom – 6.15 percent. The remaining shares belonged to citizens, current and former employees and other minority shareholders.

Although the ownership structure of NIS has changed several times recently, the concern is still mostly in the hands of Russian companies. Gazprom withdrew from NIS in September, and its shares were taken over by another company managed by it: Intelligence from St. Petersburg – according to data from the Belgrade Stock Exchange.

Jakub Bawołek (PAP)

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