US to impose sanctions on Serbia's Russian-owned NIS, Vucic says

BELGRADE (Reuters) -The U.S. will impose sanctions from October 1 on Serbia's Russian-owned oil company NIS, which operates the only oil refinery in the Balkan country, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control initially placed sanctions on Russia's oil sector on January 10, and gave Gazprom Neft 45 days to exit ownership of NIS.

But since then the U.S. postponed the sanctions six times, last in August until September 26. 

"As of October 1 we will have sanctions imposed against NIS," Vucic, who is in New York, told local media.  

NIS - in which Gazprom Neft owns a 44.9% stake, Gazprom's unit 11.3% and the Serbian government 29.9% - operates Serbia's sole refinery, in the town of Pancevo, just outside of Belgrade.

Gazprom Neft transferred a stake of around 5.15% in NIS to Gazprom on February 26 in an attempt to ward off sanctions.

"As banks will not be allowed to work with NIS, there will be difficulties in paying salaries and everything else. But let's wait and see for October 1, maybe a miracle will happen," Vucic said. 

The Pancevo facility has an annual capacity of 4.8 million tons and covers most of the Balkan country's needs, and sanctions could jeopardize its supply of crude via Croatia's Janaf.

(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Nia Williams)