en.Wedoany.com Reported - On Wednesday, Serbia completed negotiations with Hungary's largest oil and gas company, MOL, on a shareholder agreement regarding a minority stake in the Russian-owned, U.S.-sanctioned Serbian national oil company (NIS Oil & Gas). Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic announced this on Instagram.

The acquisition negotiations between MOL and NIS's majority owners—Russia's Gazprom and Gazprom (holding 44.9% and 11.3% stakes, respectively)—are independent of the relationship between MOL and the Serbian government (which holds a 29.9% stake in NIS). Djedovic Handanovic stated in an Instagram post that an agreement had been reached with MOL on all issues that day, and a compromise was achieved on the shareholder agreement between the Republic of Serbia and MOL. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on NIS last October, requiring the divestment of Russian-owned shares in the company and forcing NIS to apply for a temporary operating license to import crude oil for processing.

MOL signed an agreement with Washington in January to purchase the combined stake of Gazprom Neft and Gazprom (Gazprom-Neft-Gazprom). OFAC set a June 16 deadline for the relevant Russian companies to complete the transaction. If OFAC approves the deal, MOL will sell its 56.15% stake in NIS to Gazprom Neft. Djedovic Handanovic stated that this move would grant the state greater rights in making or blocking key decisions. She also revealed that Hungarian officials have pledged to continue operating Serbia's NIS refinery at the same capacity as in the four years prior to the sanctions.

The NIS refinery in Pančevo, near Belgrade, has an annual processing capacity of 4.8 million tons of crude oil.

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