Szijjarto: Hungarian MOL could take over NIS stake

Hungarian oil and gas company MOL could acquire a stake in Serbian company NIS, which is seeking a solution to be exempted from US sanctions, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

- In Serbia, the majority owner of the oil company is Russian or majority Russian capital and sanctions have been imposed on them, so the Serbs must do something. And theoretically, MOL could play a role in that, because it is one of the strongest energy companies in the region – Szijjarto said on the show “Hour of Truth.”

Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic announced on Saturday that the United States had demanded that Russia give up its ownership of NIS in order for the sanctions to be lifted and that they had given the company a deadline of February 13.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated at an extraordinary government session that he wanted to avoid the nationalization of NIS at all costs and that Russia and potential new co-owners still had a week to make a decision.

MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Budapest

NIS a.d. Novi Sad

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

MOL

NIS

Dubravka Đedović Handanović

Peter Szijjarto

purchase of NIS

sanctions on NIS