Two GOP Lawmakers Urge Bessent to Deny NIS a New License
Two Republican congressmen wrote to the US Treasury Secretary a day before the OFAC license expires. NIS asked for a new exemption on September 24, and the sale of the Russian stake is not done.
Republican members of the US House of Representatives Joe Wilson (South Carolina) and Keith Self (Texas) are asking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent not to give NIS a new license to operate despite American sanctions. The letter was sent on Friday, September 25, and the current license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) expires on Wednesday, September 30.
The Hill, which describes Wilson and Self as close allies of President Trump, obtained the letter exclusively. Radio Free Europe also reported on it.
What exactly are the congressmen asking the Treasury to do?
They want every new temporary license reviewed, not only the one that is about to lapse. Wilson and Self write in the letter:
“We write to you to respectfully request that you reconsider extending any additional temporary licenses allowing Serbia’s Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) to continue operating despite U.S. sanctions related to its Russian ownership.”
The timeline is short. NIS filed its new request for a special license with the US Treasury on September 24, a day before the letter went out. Sanctions on NIS were imposed in early 2025, and since then the operating license has been renewed periodically, according to Danas.
Why do they think the exemptions do harm?
The congressmen argue that the exemptions let negotiations over the sale of the Russian stake drag on. Russian owners hold 56.15% of NIS, of which 44.85% belongs to Gazprom Neft. Hungary’s MOL announced in January that it had reached a deal with Gazprom Neft to take over its stake, but the transaction has not closed. The letter states:
“Negotiations for a final purchase agreement are still ongoing, and MOL has requested further authorization from your department to continue operations despite limited progress.”
A second argument concerns the state rather than the company. Wilson and Self wrote that “Serbia continues to maintain close political and economic ties with Russia and, unlike most European countries, has not imposed sanctions on Moscow after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.”
Wilson also posted on X. As Danas reports, he wrote that it is time to stop extending the exemptions and to “enforce sanctions on the largest oil company in Serbia, which is owned by Russia.” In the same post, according to Danas, he said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic “is leading America by the nose.”
The Hill reports that NIS supplies 80% of Serbia’s energy needs.
What is still open before September 30?
The license is not the only deadline that lapses that day. According to RTS, the deadlines for MOL and Gazprom Neft to negotiate over the Russian stake also expire on September 30, as does Serbia’s current gas arrangement with Russia. We covered the gas issue and the deadlines ahead of that date earlier, in the article “Vucic and Bocan-Harchenko: gas and NIS ahead of the September 30 deadline.”
No response to the letter has been published so far. The sources we reviewed contain no reaction from the US Treasury, NIS, MOL or Serbian officials.
Jelica Putnikovic, editor of the portal “Energy of the Balkans,” said on RTS’s Morning Program that she expects the license to be extended and that lobbying against Serbia is getting stronger:
“American congressmen, it was reported in the media this morning, have demanded that sanctions be imposed on Serbia because for two years it has been benefiting from OFAC prolonging the application of sanctions, and thus financing the war in Ukraine. That is lobbying against Russia, but also against Serbia.”
Putnikovic also said that citizens should not fear for the heating season. According to her, the Banatski Dvor storage facility holds about 450 million cubic meters of gas, 51% of it owned by Gazprom, and Serbia has about 500 million cubic meters in Hungary. The state released 5,000 tons of Euro-diesel from its reserves, which she sees as a signal that the government can intervene in the market.
Oil was trading at about $107 a barrel on Tuesday morning, according to figures RTS carried in the same segment. Putnikovic said diesel prices in Europe will rise regardless of the price of crude, because Russia has banned exports of refined products until the New Year.
