BELGRADE (Reuters) -Russia is seeking partners for U.S.-sanctioned Serbia-based oil company NIS in a bid to resolve a stand-off with the United States over its Russian ownership, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday.
NIS, which operates Serbia’s sole refinery, is 44.9% owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft and 11.3% by Gazprom, while the Serbian government owns 29.9%.
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control initially placed sanctions on Russia’s oil sector in January, but for NIS they were postponed several times and finally came into effect on October 8.
Banks have stopped processing NIS payments and Croatia’s JANAF pipeline stopped delivering crude oil to NIS.
“From what I hear … they (the Russians) are seeking partners, and I am glad that they have taken the situation seriously,” Vucic said in remarks carried by the pro-government Informer TV.
“I believe that together with our American and Russian friends we will succeed in resolving this, which would be a huge relief for our country,” he said, without elaborating.
Vucic also said he will have “important meetings” with the officials from the European Union and Russia in the next two days to discuss the fate of NIS.
On October 29, Serbia’s energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said NIS refinery , which has an annual capacity of 4.8 million tons and covers most of Serbia’s needs, will be able to operate until November 25 without new crude supplies.
The refinery is located just outside the capital Belgrade in the town of Pancevo.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Joe Bavier and Conor Humphries)
