Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, based in the United Arab Emirates, is in negotiations to acquire the Russian stake in the Serbian energy company NIS, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that it had access to an official American document.
Serbian weekly Nedeljnik reported previously that ADNOC is the most likely buyer of the Russian stake in the Serbian Oil Industry, citing an insider source.
“The agreement on the purchase of NIS, which is the only oil importer and domestic refiner in Serbia, could still fail”, WSJ warns.
This newspaper reminds that in October, the USA implemented sanctions aimed at the Oil Industry of Serbia, at a time when the Trump administration increased the pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
Neither the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company nor the Kremlin responded to The Wall Street Journal’s requests for comment.
The sale of NIS is the latest example of the reach of US sanctions. Punitive measures imposed by the US Treasury Department last month forced Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil company, to hastily divest its foreign holdings. A quick deal with commodities trader Gunvor was rejected by Washington, leaving Lukoil scrambling for alternative buyers.
ADNOC chairman Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is directly involved in this transaction, as the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić asked to appear as a buyer of 56.15 percent of Russian ownership and NIS.
On November 18, the NIS company submitted to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) a new request for the issuance of a special license, which seeks to enable the smooth operation of the company.
“The previous license, dated November 14, valid until February 13, 2026, approved the negotiations of shareholders and other interested parties on changing the ownership structure of NIS,” the company stated in its announcement.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan came into the spotlight of the Serbian public discourse after the Al Dahra Agricultural Company acquired the agricultural combine Poljoprivredna Korporacija Beograd (PKB) based in Belgrade in 2018. Radar reports that the Serbian government bought back close to 11 hectares (27 acres) of land from Al Dahra, at a price 13 times higher than the original sale price to the UAE buyer.
Serbianism 