Serbia and Russia Agree to Address US Sanctions on Oil Industry

Following a meeting in Beijing with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced an agreement to jointly resolve the issue of US sanctions against the Serbian oil industry, particularly the NIS (Neftna Industrija Srbije).

"The third issue was the sanctions against NIS. We agreed to work together to save this important company and its operations. We do not want to take anything from anyone and will not implement any nationalization. We hope that major players will be able to reach an agreement on this issue," Vučić told Serbian media after the meeting.

It is worth mentioning that on January 10, the US Department of the Treasury included Gazprom Neft, its CEO Alexander Dyukov, and more than 20 subsidiaries, including NIS, on its sanctions list.

Serbia's oil industry is one of the largest vertically integrated energy systems in Southeast Europe. The main shareholders are Gazprom Neft (44.85% of shares), Gazprom (11.3%), and Serbia (29.87%). On August 27, Serbia's Ministry of Energy announced that Belgrade had secured a sixth 30-day extension for sanctions against NIS.