Talks with MOL on buyout of Russian stake in NIS not going well — Vucic
Belgrade is hoping for understanding from the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Serbian president added
BELGRADE, May 20. /TASS/. Negotiations between Belgrade and the Hungarian concern MOL regarding the latter's purchase of Russia's stake in the company Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) are not going well, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said.
Belgrade is hoping for understanding from the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as the deadline expires on May 22, he added.
"Negotiations with MOL are not going well, not brilliantly. We always leave open the possibility that everything will be done properly, but I'm not overly optimistic. And what will happen in two days, on May 22? I hope that OFAC understood our position and that Serbia would not be subject to sanctions through no fault of its own," Vucic told reporters.
Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic-Handanovic stated on May 7, following talks with MOL representatives, that Belgrade was not satisfied with the Hungarian concern's proposal regarding the agreement between future NIS shareholders.
On January 19, Gazprom and MOL announced the signing of a letter of intent to sell a stake in Serbia's NIS. Serbian authorities announced an increase in their stake in the company by 5%, which will allow Belgrade to influence some decisions at the shareholders' meeting. MOL is also in talks with the UAE's ADNOC about joining NIS as a minority shareholder.
NIS owners are forced to sell their assets due to US sanctions. In January 2025, the US Treasury Department added the Serbian company to the sanctions list along with its majority shareholder, Gazprom Neft. After several delays, the restrictions came into effect on October 9 of that year. On November 11, 2025, the Serbian Ministry of Energy announced that NIS's Russian owners had notified the United States of their willingness to transfer control of the company to a third party.
Earlier, OFAC issued an operating license for NIS until June 16, 2026. The US Treasury also extended the deadline for negotiations on the purchase of a controlling stake in the Serbian company until May 22.