Serbia’s NIS faces urgent ownership shake-up amid US sanctions

The United States is demanding that Russia fully divest from Serbia’s state-owned oil company, Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), as a condition for lifting sanctions, Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović-Handanović told Vreme.

She explained that, following a request from NIS lawyers who approached the U.S. government with a proposed management contract for the company, the American administration explicitly stated for the first time that it expects a complete change in ownership from the Russian shareholders. In other words, Washington requires the exit of Russian capital from NIS.

Đedović-Handanović described the situation as urgent, noting that the company effectively has “no days left” to continue operating under the current ownership.

“You understand that a change of ownership in seven to eight days is impossible. Approval was granted only for negotiations regarding the owner, valid until February 13, but not for the continuation of NIS operations or its refineries,” she said.

This week, the minister reported that the Russian owners of NIS had informed the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of their readiness to transfer control of the company to a third party.

As of September 2025, the ownership structure of NIS includes Gazprom Neft as the majority shareholder with 44.85% of the company. The Serbian government holds 29.87%, while St. Petersburg-based AO Intelligence, managed by Gazprom Capital, owns 11.30%. The remainder is held by minority shareholders.

On October 9, NIS announced that it had been unable to obtain a special U.S. Treasury license to remove the company from the SDN list. On the same day, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić assured that there would be no interruptions in fuel supplies in the country before the end of the year.

On November 11, Đedović-Handanović confirmed that the Russian owners of NIS were prepared to sell their stake to a third party in response to U.S. sanctions. Earlier, in October, Croatia had expressed interest in acquiring the shares.

By Tamilla Hasanova