OFAC Extends Operating Nis’s License to Feb. 20

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The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has extended the Oil Industry of Serbia's (NIS) operating license to Feb. 20, the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (RTS) reported on Jan. 23.

In a letter to Serbia’s Ministry of Finance, the OFAC names the conditions under which the license applies - transactions must not involve U.S. persons or the U.S. financial system, must not be conducted on behalf of, or for the benefit of, directly or indirectly, any other blocked entity apart from NIS.

Another condition is that transactions not involve any other activity that is “subject to sanctions under the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations, the Ukraine- and Russia-Related Sanctions Regulations, or the rules of other U.S. authorities authorized to impose sanctions,” RTS reported.

A requirement for the issuance of the new license was that Gazprom Neft and Hungary’s MOL, which are negotiating the sale of the Russian stake in NIS, submit a preliminary contract to the OFAC. The Adriatic Oil Pipeline (JANAF) reported that that the U.S. administration had issued it a license allowing the continued delivery of oil to NIS until Feb. 20.