The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has postponed sanctions against Serbian oil company NIS for one month. NIS, whose majority owner is Russian companies, operates Serbia’s only oil refinery.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced the decision on his Instagram account, sharing an excerpt from a U.S. Treasury letter stating that sanctions against NIS have been delayed until March 28.
“We have received an additional 30 days for Serbia’s oil industry. Good news for the citizens of Serbia,” Vučić wrote on Instagram.
The United States imposed sanctions on Russia’s oil sector on January 10 and had given Russian oil company Gazprom Neft until Thursday morning to divest from NIS.
Serbia had requested that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) delay sanctions on NIS for at least 90 days.
Since 2008, Russian state-owned Gazprom Neft and its parent company Gazprom have held a 56.15% stake in NIS. In February, Gazprom Neft reduced its stake to 44.85%.
NIS supplies about 80% of Serbia’s domestic market with crude oil and gas products. If sanctions are imposed, the company will be unable to import crude oil via the Croatian operator Janaf.
