Savic: Sale of NIS to MOL could be completed by March 24

BELGRADE - Professor Ljubodrag Savic from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade said on Wednesday he believed a sale of Serbia's oil company NIS - which is under US sanctions due to its Russian majority ownership - to Hungary's MOL could be completed by March 24, 2026.

"I am quite highly optimistic about it all getting completed by March 24, or perhaps after another (deadline) extension. As for the economy and wrapping up the deal, things are relatively simple. Even though people mystify that, MOL knows very well what it is buying, and it is not so complicated," Savic told Tanjug.

Resolving the issue of the sanctions on NIS is important for both the Russian and the US side even though they certainly have other, more important issues to deal with right now, he said.

"I expect their deal to enable finding a solution for a sale of NIS relatively quickly, and I think Hungary's MOL will buy it, because they have several reasons to want to buy it. I think Serbia has no particular reason to oppose that," Savic said.

"It is important for the Serbian side to also be in talks with MOL, and I believe that it is. Not about whether it (MOL) will buy or not - that is what the Russian side is negotiating - but about all the things MOL plans to do afterwards. We already know, and we have heard from the country's leadership last year, that an oil pipeline between Hungary and Serbia is to be built to connect two refineries, and that fits the strategy," he explained.

Savic said he did not believe MOL would halt operations at the NIS refinery in Pancevo despite having made such a move in Croatia by shutting down the Sisak refinery.