Thanks to temporarily relaxed US sanctions, Serbia’s sole oil refinery, majority owned by Russia’s second-largest energy company, resumed operations on Sunday this week as the publicly owned Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) seeks bids for new ownership.
NIS has obtained a license from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) allowing it to continue operations until January 23, as well as a license to negotiate the sale until March 24.
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“After almost two months’ break, today the production of oil derivatives in the Pancevo refinery has started,” Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic posted to social media.
She said she is “proud that we have fulfilled the promise to the citizens” that there will be no consequences to NIS due to sanctions. The refinery supplies around 80 percent of Serbia’s energy needs.
On December 31, the US granted NIS a temporary sanctions reprieve from sanctions imposed on it due to Moscow-controlled Gazprom’s then-majority stake. It now owns about 45 percent, and the Serbian government has a 30 percent holding.
The sanctions on NIS were initially imposed by the administration of President Donald Trump on Oct 9, finally making good on its tough talk on Moscow’s energy revenues from Serbia it had postposed for weeks.
At the end of 2023, nearly two years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine resulted in sanctions from Europe and North America, the mostly state owned oil giant posed its first annual loss in 23 years. But last year, Gazprom once again booked an annual profit, with revenues worth $14.8 billion.
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In the third quarter of 2025, Gazprom reported a net income of $1.72 billion. Overall, however, Moscow’s energy revenues were down about 24 percent in 2025.
After Gazprom reduced its stake in NIS, by selling off 11 percent to another Russian company, Intelligence, it has been shopping around for buyers for the remainder of its holdings in the refinery.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Friday that he expects Hungarian oil company MOL and Gazprom Neft to reach an agreement for the purchase of Russian shares in NIS within one to three days. He added that the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) from the United Arab Emirates is also part of the negotiations.