Serbia prepares legal path to nationalize Russian refinery hit by US sanctions
Photo: Serbia prepares grounds for nationalizing Russian oil refinery (Getty Images)
Serbia is preparing an amendment to the budget law that will allow the nationalization of a Russian oil refinery that has come under sanctions, according to Reuters.
It is noted that the Serbian government is preparing an amendment to the draft budget law that will allow the country to obtain ownership rights over the Russian oil refinery NIS, which is under US sanctions.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on the Russian oil sector in January, including NIS.
Ana Brnabic, a close ally of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, said that parliament will begin discussing amendments to the budget law prepared by the country’s ruling SNP party.
"One of the amendments that will be submitted will be the one that will foresee the circumstance that at some point we will take over NIS," Brnabic said.
Vucic also earlier stated that the NIS refinery will shut down in four days if the United States does not lift the sanctions, which risks fuel supplies ahead of winter.
US sanctions against NIS
NIS is essentially the only oil refining company in Serbia, which provides most of the country’s oil needs. However, it is largely owned by Russia: the Serbian-Russian subsidiary Gazprom Neft holds 44.9% of the company’s shares, and Gazprom itself holds 11.3%. The Serbian government owns only 29.9%.
The problem is that NIS operates the only oil refinery in Serbia, located in the city of Pancevo, near Belgrade. The Pancevo refinery capacity is 4.8 million tons per year. American sanctions have been in place against the company since January 2025, but later Washington agreed to suspend them — in exchange for a requirement for Russia to completely withdraw from ownership of the refinery.
At the end of September, the United States postponed the reactivation of sanctions against the company for the seventh time. Then, after a series of delays, the US announced that sanctions would be imposed on NIS starting October 8. But as of mid-November, NIS still has not changed its ownership structure and is effectively under US sanctions.
