Sanctions halt sale of NIS subsidiaries in the region

Naftna industrija Srbije (NIS) initiated the sale of its subsidiaries in the region two years ago, but the process has been halted due to US sanctions, writes Danas. NIS owns subsidiaries in three neighboring countries - Romania, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since the sanctions were imposed, all NIS subsidiaries in those three countries have closed gas stations, their accounts have been blocked and they have ceased operations.

In Romania, NIS has 19 gas stations under the Gazprom brand (NIS Petrol S.R.L.), and on October 9, all financial transactions were suspended. The situation is the same in Bulgaria, where Gazprom/NIS has 23 gas stations - all of them have been closed, bank accounts have been blocked and fuel deliveries have been suspended.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 42 gas stations operated through the companies NIS Petrol Banjaluka and G-Petrol Sarajevo, employing around 500 workers. Banks have closed accounts, international payments have been blocked, and deliveries from the Pancevo Refinery have been suspended for more than 10 days. According to information from Danas’ anonymous sources, several serious buyers are interested in the purchase and the negotiations on the acquisition have advanced significantly. What all subsidiaries have in common is that they are operating at a loss: in Romania, NIS is recording a loss of EUR 160 million, and in Bulgaria, EUR 90 million.

The losses in the operations of NIS’s subsidiaries in these countries appeared approximately two years ago, when the European Union began to significantly increase sanctions against the Russian energy sector (including Gazprom), which made business in Romania and Bulgaria more difficult, and the current blocking of operations and the closure of gas stations are bringing new losses.

It is estimated that NIS will have losses of EUR 30-35 million in Romania and Bulgaria, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the loss will reach EUR 50 million. Old losses and expected new ones will create a business deficit for NIS of around EUR 350-360 million.

NIS a.d. Novi Sad

G-Petrol doo Sarajevo

Naftna industrija Srbije ad Novi Sad

NIS

Gazprom

NIS Petrol SRL

NIS Petrol Banjaluka

G Petrol Sarajevo

sanctions on NIS

NIS operations

sale of NIS subsidiaries in the region