The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department has extended the license for the operation of Serbian oil company NIS until July 1, 2026, TANYUG reported, BTA reported.
NIS announced that with the extended license it can continue its activities and participate in agreements affecting it or its other operating companies, including the operation of its refinery, the import of crude oil, the execution of transactions necessary for the security of supply and technical implementation, as well as financial operations.
NIS's current license expired on June 16.
Yesterday, Serbia and the Hungarian oil company MOL signed an agreement for the management of NIS. MOL received an official license from OFAC on June 6 to continue negotiations to buy the Russian majority stake in NIS, which also expired on June 16.
MOL is in talks with Russian oil company “Gazpromneft“ to buy 56.15 percent of its stake in NIS.
The US administration has imposed sanctions on NIS - a strategic oil company in Serbia - due to its majority Russian participation, in order to prevent the use of energy revenues from Russia for the war in Ukraine.
The sanctions were imposed in early 2025, but came into effect after being postponed in October of that year.