NIS Seeks New OFAC License as Current One Expires Sept. 30
NIS submitted a request to the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for a new special license to operate past September 30, when its current one, issued August 28, expires.
NIS announced on the morning of September 24 that it had submitted a request to the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for a new special license to keep operating past September 30, when its current authorization expires. Tanjug broke the story at 10:13 a.m., followed by Bizportal at 10:26, Novosti at 10:55 and N1 at 11:04.
OFAC issued the current license on August 28, valid through September 30. It covers NIS’s regular business operations, processing at the Pancevo oil refinery, crude oil imports, payments necessary for safe supply and technical maintenance, financial settlements, and the continuation of contracts held by the company and its subsidiaries. The new request aims to keep that continuity from breaking once the existing authorization runs out.
“Uninterrupted operations of the company, the regular functioning of the Pancevo oil refinery, and steady supply to the market are of key importance for preserving energy stability in the Republic of Serbia,” NIS said in its September 24 statement.
The company did not name any of its representatives in the statement, nor did it say when a decision from OFAC is expected.
We previously covered this deadline in “NIS: License Expires September 30, Vucic Discusses Gas With Lavrov.” Since then, the situation has moved: a month ago, Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said that talks between Hungary’s MOL, a potential buyer, and Gazprom Neft, the majority owner, were in their final stage, calling the license extension a sign that more time was being secured to complete the sale. Following a January agreement between MOL and Gazprom Neft to take over roughly 56 percent of NIS, Serbia and MOL later also agreed on principles for the purchase of an additional 5 percent, contingent on the main sale being finalized.
At a meeting with the Association of Oil Companies of Serbia (UNKS) and NIS on September 21, the minister said September consumption of diesel is expected to reach around 200,000 tons, most of it from NIS’s own production. For October, the ministry expects around 205,000 tons, while importers, she said, have stopped bringing in fuel because of high purchase prices, prompting the state to consider releasing the minimum necessary amount of euro-diesel from state reserves onto the market. The Pancevo refinery, according to the ministry, processes nearly 13,000 tons of crude oil a day. Crude oil, per the same source, is above $100 per barrel, while diesel on the global market is above $1,500 per ton.
“Citizens should not worry, there will be no fuel shortage, we have sufficient reserves,” Djedovic Handanovic said after the meeting with NIS and UNKS.
OFAC has not yet announced a decision on the new request.
