Hungarian oil company MOL is close to buying an 11.3% stake in Serbia’s only refinery from its Russian owners, Serbian news outlet NIN reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the plans.
The Russians trust the Hungarian company, and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and plans are for MOL to buy 11.3% of Serbia’s only refinery Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), the Serbian magazine reports.
Gazprom Neft and Gazprom affiliates hold a majority stake in NIS, with the Serbian state owning the remaining 29.9%.
The details of a deal are expected to be discussed later this week in Hungary’s capital city Budapest, where a Russian delegation is expected on a visit, according to Serbia’s NIN.
A deal is not certain as negotiations are being held with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), too, the news outlet added.
The U.S. has waived the sanctions against NIS several times since it sanctioned Russia’s oil industry in January this year. The sanctions on the Russia-owned refinery in Serbia came into effect in early October as the last waiver expired.
The Russian owners of NIS have requested an extension of a U.S. license to operate as they negotiate to cede control of the facility to a third party, Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Dedovic Handanovic said earlier this week.
Now, the Russian owners of NIS have applied to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), requesting an extension of the operating license for the refinery, based on negotiations with a third party, Dedovic Handanovic wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.
Since the last waiver expired on October 8, banks have stopped processing NIS-related payments and Croatia’s JANAF pipeline has halted deliveries of crude oil to the refinery. The JANAF pipeline from Croatia had been Serbia’s primary supply line for Russian and Kazakh crude since 2022.
Without new supply of crude, the NIS refinery can operate only until November 25, according to Serbian officials.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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