Thewesternbalkans.
According to different Russian and Serbian media, after months under sanctions imposed by the U.S. administration and negotiations over the future ownership structure, on 19 of January 2026 the Russian stake in “Petroleum Industry of Serbia” (NIS) was sold.
The Russian 56.15 percent stake in NIS was sold to the Hungarian company MOL, with part of the shares also to be acquired by the United Arab Emirates, and Serbia will also increase its stake. The Hungarian company MOL and Russian Gazprom have agreed on the main provisions of the future NIS purchase agreement, which will be sent to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for approval. During the negotiations, Serbia managed to increase its stake by 5%.
This was stated by Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović Handanović.
“What is also important is that Serbia managed to improve its position in these negotiations compared to 2008, when we remained below 30% participation, namely – to increase in the future our share in the Petroleum Industry of Serbia by 5% and to reach such a number of shares that will allow us greater rights in decision-making at the General Assembly of shareholders, and above all, to protect the interests of our citizens,” said Handanović.
Regarding the partners from the United Arab Emirates, she noted that they are also expected to be part of the future purchase agreement.
Comments: Serbia’s oil industry was sold to Gazprom in January 2008 as part of a Russian-Serbian intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the oil and gas sector for 400 million euros. At present, there is no official information on the current market value of the Russian stake in the company.
The sanctions against NIS were imposed on October 9 due to the participation of the Russian state company Gazprom Neft in its ownership, aimed at preventing Russia from using revenues from the energy sector for the war in Ukraine. The United States’ condition for removing NIS from the sanctions list is the elimination of Russian participation.
Due to the embargo and the inability to import crude oil, the refinery in Pančevo – the only one in the country and NIS’s most significant asset – was shut down on December 2. On January 1, the company announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury had issued a special license allowing it to resume its operations until January 23.
