Hungary’s MOL nears deal to acquire majority stake in Serbia’s NIS

Hungarian oil and gas group MOL is expected to sign a key agreement in the coming days in talks to acquire a majority stake in Serbia’s Russian-owned oil company NIS, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on January 15 during a visit to Belgrade.

Speaking after talks with Serbia’s energy minister, Szijjarto confirmed that MOL was seeking majority ownership of NIS, which operates Serbia’s only oil refinery at Pancevo, near Belgrade.

“MOL wants to get a majority stake. The specification of all further details, of course, depends on MOL, but we are certainly talking about majority ownership,” Szijjarto told a briefing, Tanjug reported.

NIS was forced to suspend refinery operations in December after US sanctions imposed in October over Russia’s war in Ukraine blocked its access to crude oil due to its majority Russian ownership. Russian entities control 56.15% of NIS, with Gazprom Neft holding 44.85% and St Petersburg-based Gazprom-controlled Gazprom owning an additional 11.3%. The Serbian government owns 29.87%, with the remainder held by minority shareholders.

The company has resumed limited operations after receiving a temporary licence from the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on December 31, allowing it to restart refinery processing, import crude and carry out transactions needed for supply security and technical maintenance until January 23. Serbia has since received its first crude shipments via Croatia’s JANAF pipeline.

Szijjarto said negotiations between MOL and Gazprom Neft were progressing well and that once an initial agreement is signed, the documents would be submitted to US authorities for approval.

That step is crucial as the parties race to meet a deadline set by Washington, which has given NIS until March 24 to negotiate the divestment of Russian-held stakes.

Serbia’s Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said the aim was to conclude talks by the end of this week and sign a binding agreement on the transfer of shares from the Russian owners to new investors.

“We discussed the negotiations that are underway between the Russian owners of NIS and the Hungarian company MOL and some other possible partners, and the goal is to complete these talks by the end of this week,” she said, as quoted by Tanjug.

She added that a request would then be submitted to the US administration to extend the OFAC licence to allow the transaction to be finalised. Questions remain over the final structure of the deal and what Washington will approve.

Djedovic Handanovic said the Pancevo refinery is expected to resume operations before the end of the week after crude deliveries arrived on January 12, and that any agreement would include investments in oil infrastructure.

Szijjarto said Hungary supported MOL’s bid and stressed that the Pancevo refinery is of “strategic importance” for the Hungarian group and would not be shut down.

NIS plays a central role in Serbia’s energy sector, supplying around 80% of domestic fuel demand. It operates a network of 327 petrol stations and employs about 14,000 people.