NIS faces June 6 deadline as MOL, Gazprom talks near end
OFAC extended MOL's licence to negotiate the Russian stake in NIS until June 6, with the bid for Gazprom Neft's 56.15% put at around 1 billion euros.
- OFAC has extended MOL's licence to negotiate the purchase of the Russian stake in NIS until June 6.
- MOL would take over Gazprom Neft's 56.15% holding, with the bid valued at around 1 billion euros.
- OFAC's operating licence for NIS runs until June 16.
- Serbia holds 29.87% of NIS and is weighing buying more shares to cross one third.
The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has extended until June 6 the licence allowing Hungary’s MOL to negotiate the purchase of the Russian stake in Serbia’s oil company NIS. At issue is the 56.15% block held by Gazprom Neft, valued at around 1 billion euros, a deal that pushes the unwinding of Russian ownership of NIS into its final phase under the weight of sanctions.
June 6 is not the only date on the clock. OFAC’s operating licence, the one that lets NIS trade at all despite the sanctions on its Russian parent, runs until June 16. Everything hangs in the gap between those two dates: the sale of the stake, and the question of whether the Pancevo refinery keeps running at full capacity.
Why is Serbia unhappy with the offer?
Belgrade has not hidden its reservations about MOL’s revised bid. The sticking point is not the figure itself but two items that carry strategic, not merely shareholder, weight for Serbia: the future of the Pancevo refinery and the security of fuel supply to the domestic market. The revised terms shifted in a direction the government reads as less favourable, so the talks enter their final stretch without agreement on those points.
Serbia already holds 29.87% of NIS. Among the options under review is buying additional shares to push past the one third ownership threshold, which would strengthen its hand in running the company regardless of how the talks with the Hungarians end.
What happens if MOL walks away?
Should the negotiations with MOL close without a deal, fallback plans are in place. The first is a state buyout of the Russian stake; the second is finding a strategic partner to take on the Gazprom Neft block. Both routes share one aim: moving NIS out of Russian ownership before the operating licence lapses and the Pancevo plant is left without legal cover to operate.
The next two weeks, then, will decide who controls the majority stake in the company that supplies most of the Serbian fuel market.
Should the state move to buy more shares, or wait for a strategic partner?
