Mihajlovic: Serbia can offer to acquire NIS in case of no deal with MOL

BELGRADE - Former Serbian Minister of Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said on Tuesday that, in case no deal was reached with Hungary's MOL on its acquisition of a Russian majority stake in the Serbian oil company NIS, Serbia could offer to acquire the stake.

Since October 9, 2025, NIS has been under US sanctions due to its Russian-majority ownership.

In a statement to Tanjug, Mihajlovic said Serbia was a serious country that had at the very outset signalled its readiness to buy the stake, as well as that no potential buyer could reach an agreement with the Russian side without Serbia's consent.

"Our main and most fundamental condition is that the refinery operates to the same extent as NIS will be operating - that is the condition we are not giving up on. Everyone would like this to be over as soon as possible. None of this was up to us - it happened due to geopolitical relations, because of Russia and America. It would be good for us to have enough of everything, to process oil and get derivatives, but that does not mean we have no solution. There is always a solution, even in this situation," Mihajlovic said.

Asked if the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) would extend a licence for talks on a sale of the Russian stake in NIS, which expires on May 22, Mihajlovic said the OFAC should extend the deadline in case no deal was reached by that date as an extension would be important for Serbia in terms of the operations of the Pancevo refinery.

Serbia's main condition is that the refinery operates in full capacity and that it can process crude oil on a daily basis, she said.

Another important condition is the petrochemical plant, which has a 2,000-strong workforce, and the third one is that Serbia must have a much higher stake in NIS to be able to propose decisions, as well as to block decisions that are not in the company's interest, Mihajlovic said.