Russian-owned, US-sanctioned NIS restarts Serbia refinery

ATHENS, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The majority Russian-owned oil firm NIS has restarted a refinery in Serbia, resuming imports of crude oil after securing a waiver on sanctions imposed by the United States, Serbia's energy minister said on Sunday.

Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said in an Instagram post that the refinery had been restarted after a pause of almost two months.

She said the first diesel to be produced by the refinery after the restart should be on the market by January 27.     The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on NIS - in which the majority stake belongs to Russia's Gazprom Neft and Gazprom - in October as part of broader measures targeting Russia's energy sector over Moscow's war in Ukraine.

NIS had until late March to negotiate the divestment of the stakes held by the Russian firms and it is in the midst of negotiating a sale to Hungary’s MOL.  

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday that he expects that the initial deal for the sale will be approved by OFAC in the coming days.

NIS, which operates the only oil refinery in Serbia, was granted a sanctions reprieve by OFAC until January 23, allowing it to import crude oil through Croatia’s JANAF pipeline.

Gazprom and Gazprom Neft own 11.3% and 44.9% of NIS, respectively. The Serbian government has a 29.9% stake.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Tom Hogue)