OFAC Deadline for NIS Expires, MOL Seeks 30 More Days
As the deadline to resolve Russian ownership of NIS expired, Hungary's MOL asked Washington for 30 more days, while the refinery's operating licence runs out on 16 June.
- The current OFAC deadline to resolve Russian ownership of NIS expired on 6 June.
- MOL asked Washington for 30 more days of negotiations, confirmed by Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic.
- The NIS operating licence runs out on 16 June, and a fresh extension will be requested.
- The Pancevo refinery is running under strain, processing roughly 10,000 tonnes a month.
The deadline set by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to resolve Russian ownership of Naftna Industrija Srbije expired today, 6 June, without a final agreement. Rather than a resolution, both sides of the ownership structure sent fresh requests to Washington, so the talks now continue under an extended window whose outcome remains uncertain.
Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic confirmed that Hungary’s MOL had formally asked OFAC to extend the negotiations by a further 30 days. In parallel, the Russian side, the company Gazprom Neft, signalled its own approach to the US administration, pushing the talks into a new phase with no clear deadline for closing the transaction.
What exactly is MOL asking OFAC for?
The Hungarian oil company MOL, cited as a possible buyer of the Russian stake in NIS, formalised its request just before the deadline. The minister set out what the move involves.
“MOL today submitted a request to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for a 30-day extension of the deadline.”
Djedovic Handanovic added that there was mutual willingness to find a solution, pointing to her conversation with the company’s leadership.
“The head of MOL, Mr Zsolt Hernadi, confirmed this to me yesterday, so on their side there is certainly the will to find a solution.”
That the talks were under way was also confirmed by the chairman of Gazprom Neft’s management board, Alexander Dyukov, marking the first such signal from the Russian side that a dialogue with Washington is in progress. Both requests point in the same direction: buying time until an acceptable ownership arrangement takes shape.
A particularly sensitive element is the operating licence under which NIS does business. It runs out on 16 June, ten days after today’s deadline, and a separate extension will reportedly be sought for it. Without that authorisation, the refinery and retail network could not operate smoothly.
How are the sanctions hitting the Pancevo refinery?
The oil refinery in Pancevo, the heart of the NIS production chain, has been running under strain since the sanctions took effect. Processing is holding at around 10,000 tonnes a month, far below the plant’s capacity under normal conditions.
To keep the market supplied steadily, the Serbian government is maintaining a package of measures introduced earlier:
- a cut in excise duties on petroleum products
- the release of strategic fuel reserves
- an extended ban on exports of petroleum products
This approach has been presented as a bridge across a period of uncertainty rather than a lasting fix. Until the ownership question is settled, supply depends on domestic reserves and administrative restrictions.
The latest moves follow earlier expectations we set out in our piece on how MOL would decide its next step on Monday. The open questions then, the price of the stake, the fate of the licence and the role of the Russian co-owner, are still on the table, only now with a deadline that has moved.
Will an extra 30 days be enough to close the NIS transaction, or is another deadline shift waiting around the corner?
