OFAC extends MOL's NIS license until June 16

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) granted Hungarian oil company MOL a fresh license on Saturday evening, at around 9 p.m., allowing it to keep negotiating the purchase of Russia’s stake in Serbia’s national oil company, NIS, until June 16, 2026. The approval landed on the same day the earlier deadline expired, June 6, averting a break in a process that has dragged on for months.

After securing the license, MOL for the first time said publicly that the talks had moved forward. In a company statement, MOL noted that since the license extension approved on May 22 the negotiations had advanced significantly, and that the latest extension allows it to finalize the transaction paperwork. In short, the question has shifted from whether the deal will be permitted to how it will be closed in technical terms.

On June 3, MOL had asked OFAC for an additional 30 days to work on the deal. Rather than a full month, the US regulator granted a shorter window, until June 16, leaving negotiators roughly ten days to bring the documents to signing. Alongside the negotiating license, a separate operating license that lets NIS run its day-to-day business also remains valid through June 16.

What does the new license actually change?

The substantive change is that OFAC has actually approved the extension, rather than merely weighing the request. Until now the public knew only the deadline and the fact that MOL was seeking more time. There is now a concrete new date, June 16, and for the first time confirmation from one of the parties that the talks are not stalled but in the final document-drafting phase.

The framework was set back on January 19, when MOL signed a binding framework agreement with Gazprom Neft to take over the majority Russian holding. The deal covers the 56.15 percent stake in NIS that Gazprom Neft has held so far. ADNOK of the United Arab Emirates has been named as a possible minority shareholder, which would further diversify the company’s ownership away from Russian capital.

For NIS, which runs the Pancevo refinery and a network of filling stations across Serbia, every extension of the operating license means continued normal business without interruptions to fuel supply. That is precisely why OFAC’s deadlines matter beyond the corporate frame: they ripple through to the flow of fuel on the domestic market.

What happens before June 16?

The coming days will be devoted to closing the deal in technical terms. According to MOL, the transaction documents are being finalized, which means aligning the legal and financial details among buyer, seller and regulator. Whether that window proves enough, or whether another extension request follows, the first half of June will show.

Open questions remain over how a possible ADNOK entry would fit into the final structure, and how the change of ownership will affect NIS’s standing against the US sanctions that set the whole process in motion. For now, all that is clear is that the US regulator has opened one more window, shorter than MOL had asked for, but concrete enough to push the talks toward an end.

How do you think a change in NIS ownership will affect fuel prices in Serbia?