NIS Files New OFAC Request Before License Expiry
The company asked OFAC for a fresh special license on June 10, as the current one expires June 16, the same day MOL's deadline to finalize the Russian stake purchase runs out.
- On June 10, NIS asked OFAC for a new special license so it can keep operating after June 16.
- The previous license, issued in April, expires on June 16, 2026.
- The same day, the deadline OFAC set for Hungary's MOL to finalize the purchase of the Russian stake from Gazprom Neft also runs out.
- For the first time, the two key dates fall together, after 17 months of uncertainty over the ownership structure.
Naftna Industrija Srbije submitted a new special license request to the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on June 10. The aim is to let the company carry on with normal operations beyond June 16, the date on which the previous license, issued in April, expires.
The filing comes at a moment when two dates that have kept the company in limbo finally line up. Alongside the license expiry, June 16 is also the deadline OFAC gave Hungary’s MOL to finalize the purchase of the Russian stake in NIS from Gazprom Neft. Until now the two clocks ran separately, and OFAC repeatedly extended the license to avoid disrupting the refinery and the supply of fuel to the domestic market.
The company’s statement stressed how important steady operations are for keeping the market supplied with fuel, while noting that talks on changing the ownership structure are well advanced. NIS is signaling that it is counting on business continuity regardless of how the ownership negotiations end, yet it remains tied to a decision from the US administration that is expected within days.
Why is June 16 seen as the decisive date?
The whole saga around the sale of NIS has dragged on for 17 months. Throughout that period OFAC repeatedly postponed enforcement, issuing short-term special licenses that allowed the Pancevo refinery to keep processing crude and delivering fuel. Each extension was a stopgap rather than a lasting way out of the sanctions regime.
What is different this time is that the deadline for the ownership transaction and the deadline for the operating license merge into a single day. A Forbes Serbia journalist said June 16 could be D-day for the situation at NIS. If MOL fails to close the purchase of the Russian stake by then, and OFAC does not approve a new license, the company would be left without a legal framework to continue dollar-system transactions.
What decides whether the refinery keeps running?
The key factor is OFAC’s response to the June 10 request. A special license is the tool US authorities use to exempt certain dealings from the broader sanctions regime, and so far they have used it to keep Serbia’s fuel supply intact. Without it, the banks and business partners of NIS would face the risk of secondary sanctions, which would effectively halt the company’s payment flows.
The second factor is MOL’s progress in taking over the Russian stake. A change in ownership, if completed before the deadline, would remove the basic reason NIS falls under sanctions at all, since the Russian capital would exit the company’s structure. Until that happens, NIS stays in a zone where each coming month depends on an individual permit.
Whether the overlap of the two deadlines on June 16 brings a resolution or another round of short extensions will become clear from a decision expected very soon. How do you view the future of NIS under conditions like these?
