US Grants MOL Extension for NIS Stake Acquisition Talks

BUDAPEST, July 1. /TASS/. The United States has granted Hungarian oil and gas company MOL an additional month to finalize talks on acquiring a controlling stake in Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), which, together with its majority owner Gazprom Neft, is under US sanctions. MOL said the negotiation deadline has been extended once again, this time until July 31.

"MOL has received official authorization from the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to continue negotiations on the acquisition of a controlling stake in Naftna Industrija Srbije a. d. (NIS) until July 31, 2026," the company said in a statement published on the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) website.

Following the previous authorization from the US Treasury in early June, MOL noted that talks had made progress and that it expected to soon finalize transaction documentation. The Serbian side, for its part, said that all key matters had been agreed upon.

On January 19, Gazprom and MOL announced the signing of a letter of intent on the sale of a stake in NIS. Serbian authorities announced plans to increase their stake in the company by 5%, which would allow them to influence certain shareholder decisions. MOL is also in talks with UAE-based ADNOC, which has expressed interest in becoming a minority shareholder in the Serbian company.

The owners of NIS are being required to sell their assets due to US sanctions. In January 2025, the US Treasury Department added the Serbian company to its sanctions list along with its majority shareholder, Gazprom Neft. Following several delays, the restrictions took effect on October 9. Serbia’s Ministry of Mining and Energy said on November 11 that the Russian owners of NIS had informed the United States of their readiness to transfer control of the company to a third party.