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Official: Serbia has secured the fifth postponement in US sanctions against NIS

A Belgrade government official said that Serbia had secured the fifth postponement against planned U.S. sanction plans against Russian owned oil company NIS which operates the only oil refinery in the country.

The official who requested anonymity did not elaborate further. The U.S. Treasury Department didn't immediately respond to comments. The U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The plant has a capacity of 4.8 millions tons per year and can cover the majority of the Balkan countries' needs. Sanctions may jeopardize its crude supplies.

In 2008, Serbia sold its 51% stake in NIS for 400 million Euros ($464 Million).

On January 10, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury placed sanctions against Russia's oil industry and gave Gazprom a 45-day deadline to sell its NIS shares.

Gazprom Neft, in an effort to avoid sanctions, transferred to Gazprom a stake in NIS of approximately 5.15% on February 26.

NIS imports 80% of the oil it needs via Janaf, Croatia's pipeline operator. The rest is covered by crude oil produced in Serbia. Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Robert Harvey; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Jan Harvey

(source: Reuters)