MOL obtains U.S. approval: Talks on taking over NIS continue

The license extension approved by OFAC allows the parties to finalize the purchase agreement and other transaction documents in accordance with the terms of the Framework Agreement signed in January 2026, and enables U.S. financial institutions to participate in executing the transaction.

Upon completion of the transaction, MOL will be able to acquire the 56.15 percent stake held by the Gazprom group in the Serbian company NIS, taking on significant shareholder responsibility and management rights in the company that operates the country’s only oil refinery, further strengthening its presence in the Central and Southeastern European energy market.

The transaction is subject, among other things, to approvals from OFAC and the Government of Serbia, MOL stated.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) extended, on March 19, the operating license for Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) until April 17, 2026.

This license allows the maintenance of business operations, contracts, and other agreements involving NIS or its operational subsidiaries, including refinery processing, crude oil imports, transactions necessary for supply security and technical maintenance, as well as financial settlements.

NIS requested a new special license from OFAC on March 12 to ensure uninterrupted operational activities after March 20, when the previous license issued on February 20 expired.

Earlier, OFAC had issued a license to shareholders and interested parties for negotiations on changes in NIS’s ownership structure, valid until March 24, 2026.

The U.S. OFAC imposed sanctions on NIS on October 9, 2025, due to its majority Russian ownership.

Negotiations are ongoing between Gazpromneft and Hungary’s MOL regarding the acquisition of the Russian stake in NIS.

On January 19, MOL Group announced that it had signed the key provisions of a binding framework agreement with Gazpromneft to purchase a 56.15 percent stake in the Serbian company Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS).

The parties plan to sign the purchase agreement by March 31, noting that completion of the transaction requires, among other things, OFAC approval as well as approvals from other Serbian governmental and regulatory authorities.

MOL Group is also in negotiations with the UAE national oil company ADNOC regarding its potential entry into NIS’s ownership structure as a minority shareholder.