Russia ready to cede control of Serbia's NIS oil firm after US sanctions, Serbian minister says

ATHENS (Reuters) -NIS' Russian owners are ready to give up control of the Serbia-based oil firm as U.S. sanctions threaten fuel supplies to the Balkan country ahead of winter, Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Dedovic Handanovic said on Tuesday.

Russia's Gazprom Neft  and Gazprom together hold a controlling stake in NIS, which operates Serbia's only oil refinery. The companies have sent a request to the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, stating that they are ready to cede control to a third party, Handanovic said.

"Time is running out and a solution has to be found," Handanovic said. "The citizens must not suffer and run out of fuel," she said. 

Gazprom Neft and Gazprom did not respond to requests for comment. 

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) initially placed sanctions on Russia's oil sector in January, but for NIS they were postponed several times and finally came into effect on October 8. Banks have stopped processing NIS payments and Croatia's JANAF pipeline stopped delivering crude oil.

Officials estimate that the refinery can only operate until November 25 without new crude supplies. 

Handanovic said that OFAC had already responded "with certain comments", and that she hopes to receive word of their opinion this week. 

NIS is 44.9% owned by Gazprom Neft and 11.3% by Gazprom. The Serbian government owns 29.9%.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Edward McAllisterEditing by Frances Kerry)