Serbia's Student List vows to keep NIS running with Russia
A parliamentary candidate says guarantees are needed on the Pancevo refinery, jobs and fuel supplies after the ownership change.
The Student List, which won Serbia's parliamentary elections, will work with Russian shareholders to keep the NIS oil company running, Russia's state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.
Dejan Radivojevic, a parliamentary candidate for the coalition and a professor at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Mining and Geology, told a press conference that NIS is a vital part of the country's energy system.
Radivojevic said the movement would seek full disclosure of the details of the NIS deal between the Russian shareholders and Hungary's MOL energy group.
He said guarantees are needed to protect Serbia's national interests after the change of ownership, including continued operation of the Pancevo refinery, the preservation of jobs and uninterrupted fuel supplies to the Serbian market.
NIS shareholders were forced to sell their assets after the US Treasury Department placed the Serbian company and its majority shareholder, Gazprom Neft, on its sanctions list in January 2025.
The restrictions took effect on Oct. 9, 2025, and the Treasury Department recently extended the company's operating license until Dec. 11, 2026.
Gazprom and MOL announced on Jan. 19 that they had signed a letter of intent to sell a stake in NIS, and Serbian authorities said they planned to raise their own stake by 5 percent, which would let Belgrade influence certain decisions at shareholders' meetings.
