US puts Serbian oil on blacklist

The US Department of Foreign Property Control Office (OFAC) has put Serbia's NIS company under sanctions.

In the new Executive Order, sanctioning Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) reportedly concerns the fact that the same is owned by Russia's Gazprom.

The announcement reportedly risks secondary sanctions as well.

The American Treasury said it has sanctioned the Russian state company Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, headquartered in Russia.

NIS company was sanctioned because of the so-called “secondary risk”, it means due to connection with Russian Gazprom.

The treasury said it has taken comprehensive measures to meet G7's commitment to lower Russia's energy revenues used for the fight against Ukraine.

Gazprom Neft has shares in NIS since 2022. The stake also has its mother company Gazprom.

According to NIS data, the Gazprom Neft company currently owns 50 per cent of NIS's share capital, the Republic of Serbia owns 29.87 per cent of the shares, while the Gazprom company owns 6.15 per cent of the shares.

The rest belongs to citizens, employees, former employees and other smaller shareholders.

Gazprom Neft has been under European and US sanctions since 2014, due to the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea Peninsula from Russia, and the company has been denied access to EU and US markets.

NIS, otherwise, owns more than 400 gas stations in Serbia and in countries in the region: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Bulgaria.