Serbia and MOL Reach Compromise on NIS and Pancevo
Minister Djedovic Handanovic says Serbia and MOL have settled every open point of the shareholder agreement, paving the way for the state to buy a further 5 percent of NIS.
- Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic announced on June 10 that Serbia and MOL had closed every open point of the shareholder agreement.
- Serbia would buy an additional 5 percent of NIS shares, but only if Gazprom Neft and MOL agree on the sale of the 56.15 percent Russian stake and OFAC clears the deal.
- MOL has pledged that the Pancevo refinery will keep running at no less than its average annual capacity over the four years before the U.S. sanctions.
- The deal lands just before the OFAC license expires on June 16.
Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic announced on June 10 that Serbia and Hungary’s MOL had settled every open point of the shareholder agreement covering Naftna Industrija Srbije. After months of talks, the move shapes an arrangement under which the state would buy an additional 5 percent of NIS shares and take its strongest position in the company since the 2008 privatization.
The compromise carries a condition. Serbia will buy that 5 percent only if Gazprom Neft and MOL strike a deal on the sale of the 56.15 percent Russian stake, and only if the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) signs off on the transaction. In other words, the Serbia-MOL deal resolves the part of the ownership equation that Belgrade can influence, while the key to the Russian asset still sits with Moscow and Washington.
What exactly does Serbia gain from this agreement?
According to the minister, Serbia’s representatives on the NIS Board of Directors would receive broader powers to make and to block important decisions. That is the heart of the operation: this is not merely about a share percentage, but about control over a strategic asset.
“We have successfully closed all open points with MOL,” Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said.
The second pillar of the deal is the Pancevo refinery, the country’s largest crude oil processing facility. MOL has committed to keeping the refinery running at no less than its average annual capacity over the four years preceding the U.S. sanctions. That pledge is decisive for the domestic market, because fuel supply stability hinges on Pancevo staying in operation.
- Serbia buys an additional 5 percent of NIS shares.
- State representatives on the Board of Directors gain broader powers.
- MOL guarantees Pancevo refinery operations at pre-sanctions four-year average capacity.
- Everything depends on a Gazprom Neft and MOL deal and on OFAC clearance.
A position Serbia has not held since 2008
The minister stressed that Serbia has not held this kind of position in NIS since the 2008 privatization, when the majority stake passed to Russia’s Gazprom Neft. If the arrangement goes through, the state would for the first time in nearly two decades have the tools to shape the company’s strategic decisions and to veto those it deems harmful.
The timing is no accident. The deal comes just before the OFAC license expires on June 16, the deadline through which authorization for the ownership talks remains in force. Serbia has thus brought a settled version of its own side of the deal to the table, leaving Gazprom Neft and MOL to close the sale of the Russian package, with the final word resting with U.S. regulators.
For consumers and industry, the stakes are tangible. The Pancevo refinery has run at reduced capacity for months after crude supply was cut off earlier, so guaranteed throughput and a clearer ownership framework open the path to steadier supply. The open question is whether the Russian side and OFAC will confirm what Serbia and MOL have already agreed.
Will the Serbia-MOL deal survive its last condition, approval of the Russian stake sale before the OFAC deadline runs out?
