Russian company Gazprom, a giant in gas trading, has practically exited ownership of the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS), after its shares were taken over by the Russian company Intelligence, according to data published on the Belgrade Stock Exchange website.
Gazprom, which is not subject to the United States (US) sanctions that threaten NIS due to its large stake in sanctioned Gazprom Neft, has transferred about 11,3 percent of NIS shares to Intelligence. It is not known whether the company is under US sanctions.
NIS is at risk of being hit by US sanctions, the introduction of which has been delayed six times since they were announced at the beginning of the year due to the so-called "secondary risk" due to its connection to Gazprom Neft, which is under Western sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
After the sanctions were imposed, Gazprom Neft transferred about 5 percent of its stake in NIS to its parent company Gazprom, bringing Gazprom Neft's stake in the Serbian oil company below 50 percent. On the other hand, Gazprom owned about 11 percent.
According to documents published on the Belgrade Stock Exchange on Friday, the St. Petersburg-based joint-stock company Intelligence has crossed the threshold of a significant stake of 10 percent, by acquiring just over 11,3 percent of shares, giving it 18.433.297 votes in NIS.
On the other hand, Gazprom transferred those shares, but was left with one vote based on less than one per mille of ownership in NIS.
Gazprom Neft's share of ownership in NIS is around 44,9 percent, the state of Serbia has a 29,9 percent stake. Some of the shares also belong to smaller shareholders.
Gazprom Neft is owned by Russian oil giant Gazprom, which controls about 95 percent of its subsidiary specializing in oil and oil products.
The news about the change in NIS's ownership structure was first published on Sunday by the Serbian magazine Nedeljenik.
On the same day, Friday, September 19, when the transaction took place, NIS announced that it had submitted a new request to the US Treasury Department for a postponement of the application of sanctions to that company.
Sanctions on the Oil Industry were imposed on January 10 due to the so-called "secondary risk" due to its connection to Russia's Gazprom Neft, but their implementation was postponed six times based on NIS's request to the US Treasury Department.
They were last postponed until September 26th.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Friday that he was not sure how realistic it was that the sanctions against NIS would be postponed again.
"I'm afraid that there won't be any more of that and I'm afraid that we will be in an extremely difficult situation. I will do my best during the talks with Marco Rubio," said Vučić, who will soon be heading to New York for the United Nations General Assembly where, according to his announcement, he is expected to meet with the US Secretary of State.
Vučić said in January that "Russia's complete exit from NIS ownership is being sought," which will require an ownership transformation.
The director of Srbijagas, Dušan Bajatović, said in early August that Serbia would buy the company, but that the Russian side said that NIS was not for sale.
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