OFAC Extends NIS, MOL and JANAF Licenses to December 11

NIS’s operating license has been extended to December 11, 2026. OFAC, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, made the decision on Friday, October 30, the day the previous license expired. The same day, Hungary’s MOL received additional approval to keep negotiating the purchase of a majority stake in NIS, also through December 11, and Croatian pipeline operator JANAF then announced it holds a new license to transport crude oil to NIS, with the same deadline.

On Friday, while the license was still valid, we reported that NIS was waiting for OFAC’s answer. The answer came with a longer term than usual: from October 30 to December 11 is 42 days, or six weeks, whereas Washington had so far renewed NIS’s operating license on a regular 30-day cycle, according to BBC News in Serbian.

What does NIS’s new license cover?

The new license replaces the previous one, issued under number MUL-2025-1447098-10. NIS applied to OFAC for the new special license on October 24. The company set out what the approval covers in a statement:

“This license allows for the continued conduct of business, contracts and other agreements involving NIS or its operating subsidiaries, including refinery processing, crude oil imports, transactions necessary for supply security and technical maintenance, as well as financial settlements”

For the refinery in Pancevo, that means it keeps running, and for the market it means NIS can keep supplying Serbia with fuel, BBC News in Serbian reports.

Three licenses, three different jobs

OFAC extended three separate approvals to the same date, and all three had previously been valid until October 30:

• NIS: the operating license for the company, including refining and crude oil imports
• MOL: permission to continue negotiating with Gazprom Neft on buying the majority stake, which MOL Group disclosed to the Budapest Stock Exchange
• JANAF: a license to work with NIS and transport crude oil to the company

In a statement carried by Hina, JANAF said:

“The new extension of the OFAC license confirms that JANAF operates responsibly, transparently and fully in line with the international sanctions and regulatory framework”

JANAF added that, as the operator of strategic energy infrastructure, it will keep providing a reliable service to its partners.

Where do the MOL and Gazprom Neft talks stand?

Gazprom Neft and the Russian fund Intelligence hold 56.15% of NIS, Serbia holds 29.87%, and the rest belongs to small shareholders. On January 19, 2026, MOL announced it had signed the main provisions of a binding framework agreement with Gazprom Neft to buy that stake. A final agreement has not been reached, and the sale and purchase contract is still being finalized, as the Ministry of Mining and Energy said earlier.

Citing unnamed sources, Forbes reported that the talks had effectively collapsed because the Russian side does not want to sell its share. Asked about those reports, MOL Group replied in a written message to BBC News in Serbian:

“Carrying out a transaction of this kind (a sale and purchase) requires, among other things, the approval of OFAC and other institutions”

Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic signed a Shareholders’ Agreement with MOL on June 16. Under it, Serbia would buy an additional 5% of shares, and the refinery would keep operating for at least 10 years. The agreement takes effect only if MOL and Gazprom Neft strike a deal and OFAC approves the transaction.

The two licenses are linked. Velimir Lukic, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, told RTS earlier that the expiry of the negotiating license could also put NIS’s operating permit in question.

How many times has the license been extended?

According to K1 info, NIS’s operating license has been extended more than 20 times, most often for 30 days at a time, and in April this year for 60 days, to June 16. According to K1 info and Kurir, the sanctions on NIS over its majority Russian ownership took effect on October 9, 2025. BBC News in Serbian gives October 8 of that year.

The next deadline is December 11, when all three licenses expire.