Gazprom cuts direct ownership of Serbia's NIS to one share
Sep 19, 2025, 3:45:50 PMArticle by <https://seenews.com/news/authors/615> Valentina Bajic September 19 (SeeNews) - Russian energy major Gazprom said on Friday it has divested its entire stake of 11.3% minus one share it held directly in Serbia's oil and gas company NIS, which faces U.S. sanctions due to its Russian ownership. Photo by: Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) Gazprom now owns one NIS [BEL:NIIS <https://www.belex.rs/trgovanje/hartija/dnevni/NIIS> ] share, compared with 18,433,298 it held prior to the transaction, it said in a filing with the Belgrade bourse. No further details about the transaction were disclosed. Gazprom's subsidiary Gazprom Neft owns 44.85% of NIS, followed by Serbia's government with 29.87%, while minority shareholders own 13.98%, according to data on NIS website, which still listed Gazprom as the owner of the 11.3% stake as of Friday. In January, the U.S. Treasury Department announced <https://seenews.com/news/u-s-sanctions-serbias-sole-refiner-nis-1269175> sanctions on NIS as part of broader measures targeting the Russian energy sector. At that time, Gazprom Neft held a 50% stake in NIS, while Gazprom had a 6.15% stake. Subsequently, Gazprom Neft transferred <https://seenews.com/news/gazprom-neft-transfers-5-15-percent-stake-in-serbias-nis-to-parent-gazprom-1271402> a 5.15% stake in NIS to Gazprom, which brought its holding in the Serbian company to 11.3%. Gazprom was not targeted by the U.S. sanctions. On Friday, NIS said it had sought <https://seenews.com/news/serbias-nis-seeks-seventh-u-s-sanctions-waiver-1281902> a seventh postponement to the enforcement of the sanctions, which are set to take effect on September 26. In March, NIS requested <https://seenews.com/news/serbias-nis-seeks-full-u-s-sanctions-removal-new-reprieve-1272520> to be removed from the U.S. Treasury's sanctions list. In July, Serbia's energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said <https://seenews.com/news/u-s-delays-sanctions-on-serbias-nis-for-fifth-time-1279210> that steps were being taken to ease uncertainty around NIS, noting the company had named <https://seenews.com/news/nis-picks-serbian-deputy-board-chair-as-u-s-sanctions-loom-1279103> a government nominee as deputy board chairman for the first time and was working to appoint two independent board members to meet U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control management requirements. NIS saw its business being heavily affected by the U.S. sanctions, swinging <https://seenews.com/news/serbias-nis-swings-to-loss-in-h1-as-u-s-sanctions-bite-1279329> into a net loss of 3.6 billion dinars ($36 million/ 30.7 million euro) in the first half of 2025, from a net profit of 5.3 billion dinars posted for the same period last year. NIS Group owns 411 petrol stations, including 328 in Serbia, 42 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22 in Bulgaria <https://seenews.com/news/uni-energy-seeks-antitrust-nod-to-buy-nis-petrol-bulgaria-1280046> , and 19 in Romania. In Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is also engaged in oil and gas exploration and production. The group employs about 13,500 people. (1 euro = 117.148 dinars) -- http:www.antic.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SERBIAN NEWS NETWORK" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/senet/0b4a01dc296f%24c4d738a0%244e85a9e0%24%40gmail.com.
