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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

OFAC’s decision on NIS licence in next four days

Belgrade, 25 November 2025

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić announced today that the NIS Refinery is in idle mode, with four days left until a complete suspension of operations if OFAC does not approve the licence.

In an extraordinary address to the public at the Presidency of Serbia, Vučić explained that the NIS Refinery has switched to a lower operating mode compared to the usual one, and that its operations will be completely stopped if the licence is not approved by the US OFAC, i.e., the US administration.

He stated that the new OFAC licence for NIS had been expected yesterday, but that this did not happen following additional discussions with representatives of the United States.

According to him, the American side wants to see, hear and get more information so that it can consider and possibly make a positive decision on issuing an operating license for the next 45 or 60 days.

We cannot change anything today or tomorrow. If there is no solution on Thursday, the Refinery will shut down. Only then will we be able to talk about the consequences, said the President.

The consequences are such that we will need experts – just to restart production, it takes 14 days, and in practice, it is always more. Count on at least 20 days, which means, as he emphasised, that it is certain that the Refinery will not operate until the New Year, and it remains to be seen what the situation will look like after that.

Vučić noted that the consequences of the cessation of NIS’s operations are primarily secondary sanctions.

The National Bank of Serbia, as well as all commercial banks, have received a warning that they may become subject to sanctions. “This puts the central bank, but also all commercial banks, at risk,” the President warned.

He indicated that Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) has already started to use up its operational reserves, and will use up most of them between 28-29 November and 1 December.

If oil does not flow from JANAF by Saturday, NIS reserves of around 55,000 tonnes of diesel and around 50,000 tonnes of petrol will remain, which, he said, is enough for the retail network until 28 December.

According to him, regardless of the planned imports of other oil companies, our assessment is that by then there will be a shortage of approximately 50,000 tonnes of diesel fuel, and we, as a state, are ready to intervene immediately to prevent shortages.

At the same time, Vučić announced that Serbia has done everything to help the Russian investor in NIS and to keep it in Serbia.

He noted that the government unanimously adopted his proposal that Serbia, after 50 days, if a purchase agreement is not reached, introduce its own administration and then offer the highest possible price to its Russian friends.