Serbia: Acquisition of Russian Gazprom’s stake in Serbian oil company NIS under consideration

The Serbian government is considering a public takeover of a stake in Russia’s GazpromNeft in the Serbian oil company NIS. Serbian President Aleksandar Vuτςiτς did not rule out the possibility of such a development if there is a problem in the functioning of the NIS due to the sanctions imposed on Russia. GazpromNeft owns 56.15% of NIS shares and has a network of 400 fossil fuel stations.

“We will talk to the representatives of the Russian companies and if some of them restrict their business activities in Serbia then we will discuss and agree to buy their share at a fair price. Under no circumstances will we kidnap or seize Russian “the President of Serbia underlined. Aleksandar Vuτσiς said that for the time being Gazprom’s subsidiaries (GazpromNeft, YugorosGas) in Serbia are operating ‘perfectly’, the refineries are running smoothly and the liquid fuel and gas market is being supplied normally. Gazprom has been under EU sanctions since 2014 over Crimea and has no access to European financial institutions. However, he found funds in Asian banks and proceeded smoothly to invest in Serbia. However, Serbian analysts estimate that now with the imposition of tougher sanctions, its operation will be negatively affected. In addition to Gazprom’s subsidiaries, other Russian companies operating in Serbia are also subject to sanctions, such as Lukoil, API bank and Expobank, insurance company Sogaz and the Azav Agro D fertilizer industry.

It is noted that the Serbian political leadership refuses to impose sanctions on Russia, while condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine with a delay of six days.