Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has announced an extension by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury of a deadline for winding up talks on the acquisition of a majority stake in Serbian peer NIS until 16 June, 2026.

MOL made the announcement late Saturday, an earlier extended deadline for finishing the talks. “Negotiations have progressed materially and the current additional license extension allows for the finalization of transaction documentation,” MOL said.

Earlier this June, Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic, Serbia’s energy minister told Serbian public television in Saint Petersburg that “intensive negotiations” between MOL and NIS majority owner Gazprom Neft on the transformation of the ownership structure were underway.

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Serbian energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic and previous Hungarian FM Péter Szijjártó. Photo: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter

Also that day, Serbia’s Finance Minister, Siniša Mali, said “progress” had been made in talks over Hungarian oil and gas group MOL’s acquisition of a controlling stake in its Serbian counterpart, NIS. Mali said a response from MOL to Serbia’s latest proposal was expected later that day or the following day. He added that a further round of talks had been expected to conclude successfully by the end of the previous week. According to Mali, the latest Serbian proposal centres on the Pančevo refinery.

In May, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said talks with Hungarian oil and gas company MOL on the acquisition of a controlling stake in Serbian peer NIS were “not going well”, MTI’s correspondent in Belgrade reported. Vucic said he was “not too optimistic” about the chances of a deal being reached by the May 22 deadline set by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In that regard, he was right, but good news is that MOL got an extension to conclude the deal.

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Former PM Orbán and Serbian President Vucic. After Orbán losing his seat, the negotiations halted. Photo: Facebook/Vucic

MOL signed a heads of terms agreement in January on the acquisition of a 56.15pc stake in NIS from Russia’s Gazprom Neft which was targeted by United States sanctions. The state of Serbia holds a 29.87pc stake in NIS.

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