Hungary's largest oil and gas corporation, MOL, has been granted more time ?by the U.S. government to negotiate the ?purchase of a majority stake in Serbia's NIS, an oil company controlled by Russia, MOL ?said late on Saturday.
The deal involves ?buying a 56.16% stake held by Russia's ?Gazprom Neft in NIS.
NIS is subject ?to U.S. sanctions imposed in October over ?its Russian ownership, part of broader measures targeting Moscow's energy sector following its invasion of Ukraine. Washington ?has been pushing for the divestment ?of the Russian stake, and NIS has secured a ?series ?of waivers from the U.S. government in the interim.
MOL has received a license from the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets ?Control (OFAC) to ?continue negotiations ?until June 16, it said in a bourse filing.
Negotiations have ?progressed materially and the current additional ?license ?extension allows for the finalization of transaction documentation, MOL said.
MOL secured last month a ?until June 6 to ?finalise talks before requesting another extension on Wednesday to complete the talks.
(Reuters, June 6, 2026)
