Croatian company claims part of Russian shares in Serbian NIS
Photo: JANAF

JANAF, the Croatian operator of the Adriatic oil pipeline, is interested in acquiring a 20-25% Russian stake in NIS. This was reported by the Serbian media outlet Nova said Ante Šušniar, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Croatia.

"JANAF is interested in acquiring a 20-25% stake in Naftna Industrija Srbije primarily to protect its business interests. [...] We are talking about the share of the Russian partner in NIS. That is why we are talking about all this, because they are under sanctions. Not because of the Republic of Serbia and its share in NIS, but because of the Russian partners," Shushnyar said.

According to the minister, Croatia has not yet negotiated the acquisition of the Russian stake in NIS through either formal or informal channels.

Shushnyar emphasized that JANAF is only interested in maintaining the operation of the Pancevo refinery, in protecting its business interests, its core business, which is oil transportation.

The oil company NIS was subject to US sanctions in January 2025 because of its Russian owners (Serbia owns only 29.87% of NIS), but has repeatedly received deferrals.

  • On the morning of October 9, US sanctions against NIS entered into force JANAF  stopped supplying oil to Serbia, which led to the suspension of oil supplies to Serbia.
  • Serbia receives 95% of its oil through the Adriatic pipeline. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has previously said that Zagreb is counting on changes in the ownership structure of NIS to get it out of US sanctions and continue cooperation with JANAF.