Hungarian Mol could be solution for NIS by buying 11.3% stake

Intensive negotiations on the sale of part of the shares of Naftna industrija Srbije (NIS) are underway, and the Russians are counting on the Hungarian Mol, or rather, on local Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and the plan is for that company to buy 11.3% of NIS shares, writes the NIN weekly. The plan should be finalized in mid-November, when a delegation from Moscow will arrive in Budapest.

According to the weekly, not all cards are placed on potential Hungarian partners, but negotiations are also underway with the Emirates.

The Russians believe that the signal of a gradual exit from the ownership structure of NIS is enough for the US Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department (OFAC) to “suspend the sanctions next week,” the text states.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that Russia was talking to a “third party” about the management structure of NIS, but that he couldn’t discuss the details.

Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said that the Russian owners of NIS had sent a request to the OFAC for an extension of the operating license based on negotiations with a third party.

Sanctions on NIS were imposed earlier this year due to Russia’s ownership stake, but their implementation was delayed until October 9, when they came into effect.

NIS a.d. Novi Sad

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Budapest

Naftna industrija Srbije

NIS

Mol

Ministry of Mining and Energy

US Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department

OFAC

Viktor Orban

Dubravka Đedović Handanović

Aleksandar Vučić