The US Treasury Department has extended a sanctions waiver for Serbia's Russian-owned NIS until April 17, giving the Balkan country more time to import crude oil amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, Serbia's energy minister said on Friday.
"The extension of the licence for almost a month is particularly important now when oil prices are jumping...daily," Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said in a statement.
NIS operates Serbia's only oil refinery in the town of Pancevo, just outside Belgrade and is the biggest supplier and fuel retailer in the Balkan country.
Serbia on Thursday extended a ban on crude oil and fuel product exports until April 2 to safeguard its market from shortages and price spikes stemming from the war on Iran.
The suspension applies to the export of diesel, gasoline and crude oil by all modes of transport.
Kazakhstan was Serbia's largest crude supplier last year, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of imports, followed by Nigeria and Guyana.
All imported crude arrives via tankers to the Croatian island of Krk and is then transported through the JANAF pipeline.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said he would announce more fuel and energy savings measures after he meets the country's National Security Council later on Friday.
In December, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) gave NIS until March 24 to negotiate the divestment of the stakes held by Russian firms Gazprom and Gazprom Neft, at 44.9 per cent and 11.3 per cent respectively.
On January 19, Hungary's MOL said it had signed a binding agreement with the Russian companies to buy their stakes in NIS and the United Arab Emirates' ADNOC would be a minority stakeholder.
The Serbian Government has a 29.9 per cent stake in NIS, while the remainder belongs to small shareholders and employees.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jamie Freed)
