US sanctions on Serbia's NIS to take effect on Oct 1 - Vucic
Sep 26, 2025, 10:29:06 AMArticle by <https://seenews.com/news/authors/615> Valentina Bajic September 26 (SeeNews) - U.S. sanctions against Serbia's Russian-controlled oil and gas group NIS will come into effect as of October 1, after the U.S. delayed their enforcement by four days, Serbia's president Aleksandar Vucic said. Photo by NIS Serbia is a "collateral damage" in the relationship between Americans and Russians and will "pay a heavy price" because NIS [BEL:NIIS <https://www.belex.rs/trgovanje/hartija/dnevni/NIIS> ] is majority Russian-owned, Vucic told reporters in New York <https://seenews.com/news/serbias-vucic-says-talks-with-rubio-on-nis-sanctions-difficult-1282165> on Thursday, as seen in a video posted by public broadcaster RTS. He noted that banks will not want to work with NIS, which will make it difficult for the company to pay wages and carry out other financial transactions. "But let's see and wait, maybe a miracle happens by October 1. We are up for difficult times and a difficult winter. We will give our best so the citizens have a warm winter in their homes, that they don't have to worry about gas supplies for their cars, for buses and trucks, but everything else will be much more difficult," Vucic said. NIS operates Serbia's sole refinery in northern city of Pancevo with an annual capacity of 4.8 million tons, and is the only oil producer in the country. In 2025, Serbia is expected to produce 0.82 million tons of crude and to import 3.2 million tons. The enforcement of the U.S. sanctions would effectively prevent Croatian oil pipeline operator Janaf <https://seenews.com/news/croatias-janaf-gets-us-approval-to-continue-oil-supplies-to-serbias-nis-1280725> [ZSE:JNAF <https://zse.hr/hr/papir/310?isin=HRJNAFRA0000> ] from carrying out its contract with NIS for the transport of 10 million tons of crude between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2026. On Thursday, Janaf said that it had been granted a new licence until October 1 to continue delivering crude to NIS. 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 amid Moscow's war against Ukraine. The enforcement has since been postponed six times, most recently until September 26 <https://seenews.com/news/serbias-nis-granted-sixth-u-s-sanctions-waiver-1280710> . Last week, NIS sought a seventh waiver, following an earlier request <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. When the U.S. first announced sanctions against NIS, Gazprom Neft held a 50% stake in the Serbian company, while its parent Gazprom, which was not targeted by U.S. sanctions, 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 NIS to 11.3%. Earlier this month, Gazprom transferred <https://seenews.com/news/update-1-russian-company-intelligence-gets-11-3-percent-stake-in-serbias-nis-1281931> its entire stake in NIS, minus one share, to St. Petersburg-based Intelligence, a company it ultimately controls. Now, Gazprom Neft owns 44.85% of NIS, followed by Serbia's government with 29.87%, and Intelligence with 11.3%. The rest belongs to smaller shareholders. NIS's bottom line was hit by the U.S. sanctions. In the first half of the year, it swung <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 ($36.1 million/ 30.7 million euro), 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. -- 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/022801dc2ecb%24661b3490%2432519db0%24%40gmail.com.
