OFAC Extends Nis Operating License Until Sept. 30

Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued a new operating license to Serbian oil company Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) which is valid until Sept. 30.

The Serbian RTS public broadcaster reported on Aug. 28 that NIS submitted a new request to the U.S. Treasury Department on Aug. 21 for a special license allowing it to continue operating without disruption. OFAC has also extended a license to Hungary’s energy company MOL until Aug. 28, allowing it to continue negotiations with Gazprom Neft on the sale of a Russian majority stake in NIS, as well as a license for Croatian oil pipeline operator JANAF.

Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic-Handanovic said negotiations on the sale of the Russian stake in NIS between MOL, the prospective buyer, and the current majority owner Gazprom Neft are in the final stage. She explained the decision to extend the license as a sign that progress is being made, and that there is a willingness to provide more time for “this complex transaction to be completed.”