Hungary’s MOL begins due diligence on NIS assets as Serbia races to divest Russian stake

Hungary’s MOL has begun on-site inspections of Pančevo oil refinery and other key assets of the Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), marking the first concrete step in a potential takeover since Belgrade announced plans to divest the company’s Russian ownership under U.S. sanctions pressure.

The visit comes as Serbia races against the clock to secure an agreement that would remove NIS from U.S. sanctions imposed in October due to the company’s majority Russian ownership. Washington has made clear that the only path to lifting the measures is the complete exit of Russian capital from the firm.

Serbia faces tight deadline to resolve NIS ownership amid looming fuel crisis

Representatives of MOL have been reportedly touring NIS fuel stations across Serbia, while technical teams were holding meetings with refinery and company management in Pančevo. The talks focus on production processes, technical parameters and operational organisation, as part of a broader due diligence process that would also include legal and financial assessments.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on 2 January that he expects the main elements of a potential agreement between NIS and MOL to be finalised by 23 January, while cautioning that no deal is guaranteed. He added that MOL, NIS and the Serbian government are jointly working on a submission to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), seeking approval for continued operations and additional crude supplies.

NIS was placed under U.S. sanctions on 9 October due to the participation of Russia’s state-owned Gazprom and its subsidiary Gazprom Neft, which together control 56.15% of the company. Serbia holds 29.87%, while the remaining shares are owned by small shareholders. According to Washington, the sanctions aim to prevent Russia from using energy revenues to finance its war in Ukraine.

The impact of the sanctions has been immediate and severe. On 2 December, NIS was forced to shut down the Pančevo refinery – Serbia’s only refinery and its most important energy asset – due to the embargo and the inability to import crude oil. The refinery supplies around 80% of Serbia’s domestic market for petroleum products.

A temporary reprieve followed in late December, when OFAC issued a special licence, publicly confirmed by NIS on 1 January, allowing the company to resume limited operations until 23 January. The licence permits refinery processing, crude imports and transactions deemed necessary for supply security and technical maintenance. Vučić said the company could immediately pay for 85,000 tonnes of oil stored in Omišalj, Croatia, and order an additional tanker carrying 140,000 tonnes, with full refinery capacity potentially restored by 20 January.

The licence also allowed Croatia’s JANAF pipeline to resume transporting non-Russian oil to NIS until 23 January, after flows had been halted following the sanctions. However, the temporary nature of these permissions underscores the urgency facing Belgrade.

OFAC extended the deadline for negotiations on the sale of the Russian stake until 24 March 2026, but without granting NIS the right to conduct full commercial activity during the talks. Vučić warned that Serbia is currently forced to import large quantities of fuel daily and that the energy supply issue must be resolved as quickly as possible.

The potential sale has far-reaching political and strategic implications. NIS was sold to Gazprom in January 2008 for €400 million under an intergovernmental agreement between Serbia and Russia on energy cooperation. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in December that Gazprom Neft has invested more than $3 billion in the company and that discussions with Serbia are ongoing.

Beyond MOL, officials in both Serbia and Hungary have indicated that Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC has also shown interest in acquiring NIS. No official valuation of the Russian stake has been disclosed.

In addition to oil products, around 80% of Serbia’s natural gas for households and businesses is imported from Russia. Belgrade maintains close political, economic and military ties with Moscow and has refused to join EU sanctions against Russia, despite being an EU membership candidate since 2012.

Caption: The NIS company logo is seen in Belgrade, Serbia, 9 October 2025. U.S. sanctions targeting the Gazprom Neft-owned Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) have cut off the nation’s primary crude oil supply, threatening to halt its only refinery and sparking fears of an energy crisis. EPA/ANDREJ CUKIC