Speaking at a press conference aired by public broadcaster RTS on Sunday, Vucic also stated he expected the first 85,000 tons of crude oil to arrive by January 15 and the refinery to start producing oil derivatives from January 25 or 26.
NIS was forced to shut down the 4.8 mt/y Pancevo refinery last month after U.S. sanctions against the company came into effect, blocking its only crude import route via Croatia's Janaf pipeline. Last week, OFAC granted a licence to NIS to continue operating through January 23, and to Janaf to restart crude oil deliveries to the Serbian company.
The U.S. Treasury announced sanctions on NIS over its Russian ownership in January 2025. The implementation of the restrictions was postponed several times before they eventually took effect in October.
NIS is 44.85% owned by Gazprom Neft, an oil arm of Russia's energy major Gazprom. Serbia's government has 29.87% ownership, and St. Petersburg-based Intelligence, a company indirectly controlled by Gazprom, has 11.3%. The remainder belongs to a number of minority shareholders.
In December, Serbia's energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said that NIS and Hungarian oil company MOL had informed OFAC that they are in sale talks for the 56.15% Russian-owned stake in NIS. OFAC had demanded a complete exit of Russian owners from NIS and gave the Serbian company until March 24 the negotiate the sale of the Russian stake.
"I call on the people from the management of Gazprom, NIS and the Hungarians, since it is now clear that they are negotiating with them, to complete the sale purchase agreement as soon as possible, so that we can exit the sanctions regime and so that Serbia can continue to grow," Vucic said on Sunday.
On Saturday, news agency Tanjug reported that MOL representatives will this week visit NIS to start due diligence. During the visit, the representatives of MOL will analyse NIS's operations and inspect the Pancevo refinery, NIS petrochemicals producer Petrohemija, its petrol stations and other important facilities and capacities, Tanjug reported, without specifying its sources.
Apart from operating the Pancevo oil refinery, NIS runs the largest fuel retail network in Serbia, with 327 petrol stations, and supplies 80% of fuels consumed domestically. The Serbian company is also active in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Romania and employs about 14,000 people.
Vucic said in November that the state will take over the management of NIS and is ready to buy the Russian share at the "best price" if no third-party deal is agreed until January 15.
(SeeNews, January 5, 2025)