EL7.AI
GeopoliticsMedium•30 October 2026•
4 min read

NIS Operating License Expires on October 30 as U.S. Response to New Request Awaits

Key Facts

1NIS’s existing operating license expired on October 30, 2026, and the company was awaiting OFAC’s response to a new request.
2The previous license authorized NIS to continue operating through October 30, 2026, including refining, crude imports and maintenance.
3Serbia released 5,000 tons of diesel from its state reserves onto the market.
4MOL signed a preliminary agreement to buy a 56.15% stake in NIS, and completion of the deal requires OFAC approval.

The U.S. license allowing Serbian oil company NIS to continue its operations expired on October 30, 2026, while the company awaited a response from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to a new license request, according to SRNA. NIS had confirmed that the previous license allowed it to operate through that date. Available information does not support reports that the company was granted an exemption through December 11, contrary to what appeared in the initial draft. The license’s expiration leaves the company’s subsequent operations and those of the Pančevo refinery dependent on a U.S. decision that had not been confirmed in the report published on the day it expired. The company had stressed in its new request the importance of maintaining domestic market supplies and the refinery’s regular operations for Serbia’s energy stability.

The previous license covered refining, crude oil imports, supply security transactions, technical maintenance and financial settlements, according to NIS. Serbia’s Ministry of Mining and Energy said its extension allowed the company to continue its operations and keep the Pančevo oil refinery running through October 30. The ministry described the license’s effect as enabling "the continuation of the company’s operations and the operation of the Pančevo oil refinery." The announced authorization therefore covered more than refining alone, also including imports, maintenance, supply-related transactions and settlements. But that scope applied to the license that expired on October 30 and does not by itself establish that a new authorization was issued after that date.

Serbia’s minister of mining and energy said on September 30 that extending the license through October 30 had allowed NIS and the Pančevo refinery to continue operating. In the same statement, she linked pressure on the energy sector to higher prices, logistical difficulties, low water levels in the Danube and problems importing petroleum products. These factors show the context in which the company and refinery operated during the license period, alongside challenges in securing fuel and oil products. The government said Serbia had released 5,000 tons of diesel from state reserves onto the market. The minister said the move was part of the authorities’ response to market challenges, alongside a reduction in excise taxes that she said had been in place for months.

NIS said its new request to OFAC highlighted the company’s role in ensuring continued supplies to the domestic market, and that the regular operation of the Pančevo refinery was "of critical importance to energy stability in Serbia." The request puts continuity at the refinery and fuel supplies at the center of the company’s case for a new license. The SRNA report published on October 30 did not confirm that the office had approved the request; it said the existing license expired that day and the company was awaiting a response. The distinction between the announced scope of the previous license and the company’s status after its expiration therefore remains material. Available information gave no details of a subsequent decision or when it might be issued.

The license issue is connected to talks on a change in NIS ownership, with Serbia’s minister of mining and energy saying discussions between OFAC and Hungary’s MOL over the deal were ongoing and would need more time. The Associated Press reported in January that MOL had signed a preliminary agreement to buy a 56.15% stake in NIS, subject to OFAC approval to complete the deal. The agency said the Serbian government owned 29.87% of the company, and that the minister said the expected agreement would increase the state’s stake by 5 percentage points. The requirement for U.S. approval of the deal makes the ownership process part of developments affecting the company’s future, alongside its new operating-license request. U.S. sanctions on NIS took effect in October 2025, according to an earlier Associated Press report on the company’s inclusion in a campaign targeting Russia’s energy sector.