Request for Further Deferral of U.S. Sanctions on NIS

Dusan Bajatovic (BETAPHOTO/Dragan Gojic)

Dusan Bajatovic, the CEO of Serbia’s state-owned natural gas provider Srbijagas, stated on March 19 that the country’s legal team has submitted another deferral request to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, following the OFAC’s initial 30-day delay in the sanctions it has levied against Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS).

According to Bajatovic, the second deferral may be approved, but on condition that Serbia use the next month to create an action plan in agreement with the Americans and Russians.

“I think the additional deferral of the sanctions will be granted as long as we promise to offer an action plan in one month’s time. To that end, we, the Americans and Russians need to reach an agreement, because the sanctions are political yet, unfortunately, have serious economic repercussions,” Bajatovic told the RTS public service.

The initial one-month delay in the sanctions – levied due to NIS being majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft – expires at midnight on March 28, i.e. at 6 am on March 29 local Serbian time.

Bajatovic went on to say that the ownership structure of NIS has already been altered.

“Currently, Gazprom Neft owns 45 percent, Gazprom owns 11 percent, 30 percent belongs to the Republic of Serbia and the rest are small shareholders. If you read the OFAC document, i.e. the document on the sanctions, all the conditions for removing the sanctions on NIS should thereby have been met,” the Srbijagas CEO concluded.