MOL takes over the Serbian giant. There is an agreement with Gazprom

The Hungarian oil company MOL has reached an agreement with the Russian Gazprom regarding the acquisition of a majority stake in the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS), the Serbian Ministry of Energy announced on Monday.

Serbian authorities said details of the deal would be sent to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). NIS was placed on the US sanctions list because Russian companies hold most of its shares. The state-owned energy giant of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, is also to be a party to the agreement.

The US included NIS on the sanctions list in January last year to, as it was announced, prevent the war in Ukraine from being financed with money from Russian oil and gas 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. The US administration demands the withdrawal of Russian entities from the NIS.

The US issued a special license to NIS to conduct operational activities until January 23. Oil transport to the Panczevo refinery in Serbia – which stopped operations at the beginning of December due to a lack of raw material – was resumed on January 13.

Gazprom and Gazprom Neft hold 11.3%, respectively. and 44.9 percent shares in NIS. The Serbian government has 29.9 percent. shares. As part of the agreement, Serbia is to increase its shares in NIS by 5%. (PAP)

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