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Serbia's NIS is granted a waiver of US sanctions until October 8.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury granted a special license delaying the full sanctions against Serbia's Russian owned oil company NIS, allowing it to continue operations until October 8, NIS announced on Wednesday.

NIS is the sole oil refinery operating in the Balkans.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury placed initial sanctions on Russia's petroleum sector on 10 January, and gave Gazprom a 45-day deadline to sell its NIS holdings.

The U.S. announced sanctions last week, after several delays.

Sanctions are a possibility

Launched on October 1,

NIS, of which Gazprom owns 44.9%, Gazprom 11.3%, and the Serbian Government 29.9%, operates Serbia's only refinery in Pancevo just outside Belgrade.

Pancevo has a capacity of 4.8 millions tons per year, which is enough to cover the majority of Balkan countries' needs. Sanctions could threaten its crude supply via Croatia's Janaf.

In a Wednesday statement, JANAF said that it has also been granted a license to transport crude oil on behalf of NIS up until October 8.

It said that JANAF d.d. would apply to OFAC in the next few days through its American attorney and with the Government of the Republic of Croatia's support, with the goal of extending the license.

The possibility of extending this licence beyond October 8, 2025 is heavily dependent on the activities that the NIS a.d. company undertakes, according to the American institutions. (Reporting and editing by Sharon Singleton, Ed Osmond and Antonis Pothitos)

(source: Reuters)