Serbia has announced the signing of an agreement with the Hungarian group MOL regarding the oil company NIS

Belgrade announced on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with the Hungarian group MOL regarding the future participation of the Serbian state in the oil company NIS, conditioned on MOL's completion of the acquisition of the majority stake currently held by Russian companies.

NIS, which supplies 80% of the national market, is majority owned by Gazprom Neft and Intelligence, subsidiaries of the Russian giant Gazprom. The United States is demanding the withdrawal of Russian companies from NIS by 2025, threatening financial sanctions. The Serbian Minister of Energy mentioned that the government could buy an additional 5% of the shares, thus increasing decision-making rights. MOL has committed to maintaining the production of the Pancevo refinery at constant average annual capacities.

In 2008, Serbia sold the majority stake in NIS to Gazprom for 400 million euros.

The deadline for completing the negotiations has been extended until June 16.