The Hungarian company MOL and the Russian group Gazprom have agreed on the basic provisions of the future agreement on MOL’s acquisition of the Russian stake in the Serbian oil company NIS, Tanjug reports.

The agreement, which also provides for a 5% increase in Serbia’s stake in NIS, will be sent for approval to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department, Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic announced on Monday.

“What is important in these negotiations is that Serbia has managed to improve its position compared to 2008, when we were left with a stake of less than 30%, and in the future we will increase our stake in NIS by 5%, which will allow us increased decision-making rights and protect the interests of our citizens,” the official said, according to Agerpres.

Under the agreement, MOL will acquire Gazprom’s 56.15% stake in NIS.

“As a reliable regional energy supplier, we want to contribute to the development of Central and South-Eastern Europe. MOL is committed to working together with the Government of Serbia to further strengthen the security of supply in Serbia and the region. As a result, MOL is in negotiations with ADNOC, the national oil company of the United Arab Emirates, to join the owners of NIS as a minority shareholder, while MOL remains the majority shareholder and has control,” said MOL CEO Zsolt Hernadi.

NIS is subject to US sanctions because of its Russian shareholders. Two Russian companies, Gazprom Neft and Gazprom, own 44.9% and 11.3% of NIS shares, respectively, but they have to sell their stakes.

On Monday, NIS announced that the Pancevo oil refinery has begun restarting activities that will allow the resumption of commercial operations at its production facilities, with enough crude oil to keep the refinery running until February.

On December 31, 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a special authorization allowing NIS to operate until January 23 of this year.

NIS owns Serbia’s only refinery, located in Pancevo, near the capital Belgrade, as well as a chain of over 400 gas stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Romania. The Serbian state, whose government has not imposed sanctions on Russia, owns 29.9% of NIS’s shares.