Gazprom gives up stake in Serbia's biggest oil firm

Russia's Gazprom has virtually withdrawn from the shareholding of Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), transferring 11.3% of its shares to the St. Petersburg-based Intellectuals Joint Stock Company. This is reported on the website of the Belgrade Stock Exchange.

NIS, Serbia's second largest company, is under constant threat of US sanctions because of its Russian shareholders. The previous US President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on NIS with a delay until Gazprom Neft fully withdraws from the shareholding.

At the time the sanctions were imposed, Gazprom Neft's share was 50%, but on February 26, it announced that it had been reduced to 44.85%. At the same time, Gazprom increased its share from 6.15% to 11.30%.

Now, Gazprom's share has been re-registered to the St. Petersburg-based Intellectuals Joint Stock Company, which is also part of the Gazprom Group.

Gazprom has one NIS share in direct ownership, or 0.0000006% of the total capital.

The news of the change in the ownership structure of NIS was first reported on Sunday by the Serbian magazine Nedeljenik .

Another 29.87% of NIS shares are owned by Serbia, the rest are held by minority shareholders.

• The sanctions imposed by the United States in January against Gazprom Neft require not only a reduction of the Russians' stake in NIS, but also their complete withdrawal from the company.
• In July, NIS reported that sanctions had caused it to face significant difficulties in Bulgaria and Romania, forcing its management to consider a complete withdrawal from these markets.