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NIS receives permission to cease operations, pending a decision from the US on the license

2025-12-02 14:37:18, Kosova & Bota CNA

NIS receives permission to cease operations, pending a decision from the US on

Serbian President Aleksandar Vu?i? announced on Tuesday that the United States has not made any decision on whether or not to extend the operating license for the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS), which it sanctioned last month due to its Russian ownership.

NIS is still awaiting a response from US authorities on its request to allow it to operate while it continues talks to sell its Russian shares.

"The Russians do not want to sell their shares in NIS. It's not about money, it's about politics," Vucic said at a press conference on Tuesday, after a meeting with teams responsible for the country's energy stability and security.

Vu?i? stressed that there is no indication that the US will extend the license to NIS.

Without a license, the oil refinery in Pancevo, which operates within NIS, will be forced to cease operations completely, due to a lack of crude oil.

Vu?i? said that Serbia's Minister of Mines and Energy, Dubravka Gjedorvi? Handanovi?, will notify NIS of this and that permission has been given for the NIS refinery in Pancevo to cease operations.

"NIS will decide whether the refinery will cease operations today or in the coming days," Vu?i? said.

He said that it is the 54th day since sanctions were imposed on NIS and that there are no problems with fuel supply, "which shows how serious the state is and how much money has been invested in oil and oil product reserves."

The US State Department had not responded to a question from Radio Free Europe by December 1st about whether the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had made any decision regarding the NIS request and when that decision could be expected.

At a session on November 25, attended by Vu?i?, the Serbian government adopted a decision to give Russia 50 days to find a buyer for its shares. Moscow was warned that if it did not, Serbia would introduce its own management to NIS and offer the Russian side the "highest possible price" for the company.

Neither the American nor the Russian side has published information about the progress of the talks, and citizens have been informed about this situation by Serbian officials, mainly by President Vu?i?. /REL