"NIS did not sell, but Gazprom Neft was given to Gazprom - no change," Aleksandar Vučić said last night when asked about the transaction that took place yesterday during the day, when slightly more than 10 million shares of the Oil Industry of Serbia were sold, i.e. something more than 6 percent of the company.
Vučić added that "I guess this was done because Gazprom Neft was under sanctions, and Gazprom was not, because Europeans need gas from Gazprom, and they don't need oil from Gazprom Neft, God will know".
Today, this change was also registered in the Central Register of Securities, where it is written that Gazprom Neft has exactly 50 percent of shares in NIS, the state of Serbia still has 29,9%, and Gazprom - the parent company of Gazprom Neft - now has 6,15%. action. Therefore, Gazprom Neft no longer has a controlling stake on its own, but together with the "mother" - it does.
Let us remind you that the EU announced a new, sixth package of sanctions against Russia due to its aggression against Ukraine since February 24 this year, which is still ongoing - this package of sanctions, if adopted, would mean that by the end of 2022, EU countries would stop importing Russian crude oil and oil products.
As Reuters reported on Friday, May 6, the European Commission proposed partial changes to this package of sanctions, so that Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic would not have to end imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022, but by the end of 2023. This proposal, however, has not yet been adopted.
Previously, in the fourth package of sanctions from March 15, the EU, among other things, imposed sanctions on Gazprom Neft, that is, it prohibited domestic companies from doing business (i) with this company. As announced at the time by the Adriatic Pipeline (JANAF) from Croatia, through which Russian oil comes to Serbia, this meant in practice that from May 15, NIS would no longer be able to receive oil through JANAF, since it was (was) in the majority owned by Russian Gazprom Neft.
However, as reported in April, Serbia was excluded from this package. It is still not known whether yesterday's transaction of 6 percent of NIS shares was actually a condition for Serbia to continue receiving oil through JANAF. Also, given that the sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia has not yet been adopted, it is not known whether Croatia will also have to suspend the import of Russian oil by the end of this year or by some other deadline, which would consequently have a great impact on NIS, i.e. the country of Serbia.
By the way, Serbia produces between a fifth and a quarter of its domestic oil needs, while the rest has to be imported, and the import of crude oil, in which Iraqi oil has the highest share, arrives via tankers to the terminal in Omisalj, from where it arrives in Serbia via JANAF.
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