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Russia’s Gazprom Neft is in the active stage of the transaction to sell its stake in Serbia’s NIS to the Hungarian company MOL and is not conducting negotiations with other buyers, Gazprom Neft’s press service has stated.
They said that “Gazprom Neft is in the active stage of preparing the transaction to sell its stake in NIS to the Hungarian company MOL”. The necessary corporate and regulatory procedures are currently being carried out. The company is not conducting any other negotiations on this matter.”
Reuters has reported that a newly established Serbian company – KFT Senator Treasury G.T.7 Two LLC (Senator) – offered €2 billion (US$2.35 billion) to the Russian companies Gazprom Neft and Gazprom for their combined stake of 56.1% of shares in Serbia’s NIS. Reuters said that the owner of Senator, Ranko Mimovic, who said that their offer was “generally accepted” by the Russian owners of NIS.
Senator was founded last summer, and the company began the procedure of obtaining approval from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for the NIS transaction by October 30 (when the office issued a licence to conduct transactions for the purchase of NIS) and informed Gazprom Neft of its plans on November 4. Mimovic also said that he notified the office of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic of his plans on April 21. Vucic said on January 26 that MOL was ready to pay €1 billion for NIS.
NIS was included in the U.S. sanctions list in January 2025. U.S. authorities insist on the exit of Russian shareholders from its capital. The exit of Gazprom Neft means that European requirements for products such as engine lubricants and other high-value oil products will now have to be met by American exporters. One litre of Gazprom Neft’s engine oil lubricant currently retails for the equivalent of €3.50. A similar product from the United States, delivered to Europe, retails for about €15.49.
At the beginning of January 2026, Hungary’s MOL announced that it had signed a binding preliminary agreement with Gazprom Neft to purchase its 56.15% stake in NIS. At the same time, MOL is negotiating with ADNOC, the national oil company of the UAE, to join the owners of NIS as a minority shareholder. It was also assumed that the Serbian government could increase its stake in NIS by 5%. To complete the transaction, approval from the U.S. Department of the Treasury through OFAC is required.
OFAC has extended the licence for negotiations on the sale of NIS several times. It is currently valid until May 22.
The main owner of NIS is Gazprom Neft (44.85%), and another 11.3% of shares belong to JSC Intelligence (managed by Gazprom Capital LLC). Gazprom directly holds one share of NIS. The Serbian authorities own 29.87%, and the company also has minority shareholders.
NIS is the only company in Serbia engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It also owns a large refinery in the city of Pancevo with a capacity of 4.8 million tonnes per year. The company dominates the petroleum products market in the country, and its filling station network is also present in neighbouring Balkan states, totalling more than 400 stations.
