Djedovic on NIS: All Sides Losing Patience, Ball With MOL

The operating license that lets Serbia’s oil company NIS keep running despite U.S. sanctions has been extended to July 31, 2026, giving every party to the sale roughly another 30 days to close the ownership transaction. Mining and energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said on July 1 that, even with the approvals granted by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), all sides in the NIS sale talks are losing patience.

The message is blunt: the deadline moves, but the decision is no longer Belgrade’s to make. According to the minister, Serbia has closed all open questions with Hungary’s MOL and reached a compromise, including keeping the Pancevo refinery running at its previous capacity. The ball is now in the court of the seller, Russia’s Gazprom Neft, and the buyer, MOL, which need to finalize the transfer of the majority package.

Serbia says it has done its part

Djedovic Handanovic stresses that over the past 18 months Serbia has managed to preserve relations with both the United States and the Russian Federation, in a setting where NIS’s Russian-controlled ownership drew U.S. sanctions back in October 2025. The core argument from Belgrade is that throughout the entire period of uncertainty there were no fuel shortages for citizens, because the refinery and the retail network kept operating.

The structure of the deal has been known since the start of the year. On January 19, MOL signed a framework agreement to buy a 56.15 percent stake in NIS from Gazprom Neft, which would remove Russian capital from the Serbian oil firm’s ownership. In parallel, under the adopted shareholders’ agreement, the Serbian state is buying an additional 5 percent of shares. That seemingly modest package carries real weight: it gives the state the right to block key corporate decisions, regardless of who holds the majority.

A third player enters the equation. MOL is in talks with the UAE’s ADNOK over its possible entry into NIS’s ownership structure as a minority shareholder. That would spread risk and capital across a wider base, while giving Pancevo an owner with deep oil backing.

Why do these 30 days matter?

The extension to July 31 is not a formality. With licenses like this, OFAC keeps open a window in which NIS can operate and the transaction can close without the full force of sanctions kicking in. Each new extension signals that Washington tolerates the process, but not indefinitely. If the transfer of the 56.15 percent stake is not finalized within this window, the scenarios left on the table hit supply directly: obstructed payments, severed cooperation with banks and logistics, and pressure on refinery operations.

Who loses and who wins if the deal collapses? Gazprom Neft risks staying locked into an asset it can barely cash out under sanctions. MOL loses a ticket to a market that sits geographically perfect next to its existing regional network. Serbia, with its 5 percent, keeps a veto but not the comfort of a stable long-term owner. That is why the statement that all sides are losing patience is above all a signal that the cost of delay has started to outweigh the benefit of waiting.

The next date worth remembering is July 31. By then it should be clear whether MOL and Gazprom Neft close the deal, whether ADNOK enters as a minority partner, and on what terms. And for the driver filling up in Pancevo or Belgrade, the question is simple: how many times can a deadline be extended before the uncertainty starts showing up at the pump?