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To avoid US sanctions, Serbia should completely remove Russian ownership of the National Oil Company of Serbia (NOCS), the country’s largest energy company, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien said.
On Friday, the administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden imposed its broadest package of sanctions to date, targeting Russia’s oil and gas revenues. The sanctions target Gazprom’s subsidiaries in several countries, notably NIS Novi Sad, a pillar of Serbia’s energy system.
Since 2008, Russian state-owned Gazprom Neft and its parent company Gazprom have held a majority stake of 56.15% in NIS, with Serbia holding 29.87%. Last year, NIS’s revenues rose to €3.3 billion, equivalent to 4.5% of Serbia’s GDP.
As Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Friday, Serbia has 45 days to end Russian ownership of NIS.
O’Brien was clear that the risk can only become zero if Russian ownership is also zero and that as Serbia has chosen the European path, it must focus on its strengthened relations with European and American companies, which have already delivered results.
He added that the US expects open and honest discussions about the way forward and noted that the US position was unlikely to change under the upcoming Trump administration.
Commenting on Russia’s purchase of NIS, he said Russia had bought it for very little, yet it likely took billions of euros out of the country in recent years.
Serbia sold 51% of NIS to Russia’s Gazprom in 2008 for what critics called a bargain price of €400 million, plus a promised investment of €550 million.
In 2022, Vučić mentioned the possibility of Serbia “taking over” NIS. On 5 January, after warning that sanctions could be imposed on NIS, Vučić said that Serbia had the money to take over the company even without borrowing but suggested that this was not a good solution because the deal would fill Russia’s coffers.
Most of Serbia’s crude oil imports come through Croatian oil pipeline operator Jadranski Naftovod. If NIS remains majority-owned by Gazprom Neft, Serbia is likely to face massive oil shortages because the Croatian partner will not continue to supply a company that’s under US sanctions.
(Georgi Gotev | Euractiv.com)
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