BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbian oil firm NIS, which is majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Gazprom, has actually sent an official demand to the united state Treasury Department for a waiver of permissions for 90 days, Serbia’s power ministry stated on Tuesday.
In a declaration, the ministry stated that the NIS demand has the support of the Serbian and Hungarian federal governments.
“We urgently request that OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) consider immediate assistance, in the form of a suspension of sanctions for a minimum of 90 days, while a sustainable solution that would lead to the lifting of sanctions is considered,” the declaration stated.
It additionally stated that NIS’s demand worries getting licenses that would certainly permit it to proceed running while an option to the possession framework and monitoring is looked for.
“The (Serbian) government … supports the request … because sanctions would impair the company’s ability to supply Serbian citizens with oil and oil derivatives,” the ministry stated.
Gazprom Neft and Gazprom have 50% and 6.15% risks specifically in the firm which runs the single oil refinery in Serbia.
The Serbian federal government holds an additional 29.87% with little investors making up the rest.
On Jan 10, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic stated Russian firms were provided 45 days to 45 days to leave their possession in NIS which any type of offer would certainly need to be accepted by OFAC.
On Jan 14, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow touched with Belgrade concerning NIS.
Serbia obtains the majority of its petroleum via Croatia’s pipe driver Janaf, whereby Hungary additionally imports several of its oil.
NIS, among the largest factors to Serbia’s state budget plan, had actually authorized an agreement with Janaf for the transportation of 10 million lots of oil via Croatia fromJan 1, 2024 tillDec 31, 2026.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Susan Fenton)
