Serbia’s NIS granted US sanctions waiver until October 8

BELGRADE (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of the Treasury has granted a special licence delaying full sanctions on Serbia's Russian-owned oil company NIS and allowing its operations to continue until October 8, NIS said on Wednesday. NIS operates the only oil refinery in the Balkan country. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control initially placed sanctions on Russia's oil sector on January 10, and gave Gazprom Neft 45 days to exit ownership of NIS. Sanctions had been postponed several times since, but last week the U.S. said sanctions would be launched on October 1. NIS – in which Gazprom Neft owns a 44.9% stake, Gazprom 11.3% and the Serbian government 29.9% – operates Serbia's sole refinery, in the town of Pancevo, just outside Belgrade. The Pancevo facility has an annual capacity of 4.8 million tons and covers most of the Balkan country's needs, and sanctions could jeopardise its supply of crude via Croatia's Janaf. JANAF in a statement on Wednesday said it also has a licence to transport crude oil for NIS until October 8. "In the coming days, JANAF d.d., through its American lawyer and with the support of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, will apply to OFAC with the aim of obtaining an extension of the aforementioned license," it said. "The possibility of extending the licence after October 8, 2025 will largely depend on further activities undertaken by the company NIS a.d. according to the competent American institutions." (Reporting by Antonis Pothitos and Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Ed Osmond)

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