Hungarian oil company MOL is negotiating to buy a stake in the Serbian company NIS (Oil Industry of Serbia). Hungarian minister Gergely Gulyás reported this while commenting on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's visit to Belgrade.
Details of the proposal
According to Gergely Gulyás, this is not a government decision but a commercial initiative by MOL itself. The Hungarian government does not plan to intervene — the company is independently assessing the possibility of an acquisition.
Owners and sanctions
The United States has announced that it will lift sanctions on NIS only after Russian shareholders have fully exited the company's capital. Currently, 44.85% of the shares belong to Gazprom Neft, another Gazprom group entity from Saint Petersburg holds 11.30%, and 29.87% is controlled by the state of Serbia; the remaining shares are held by minority owners.
Possibility of nationalization
On 26 November, Serbian authorities announced an amendment to the draft 2026 budget that would allow, if necessary, the nationalization of NIS. This step gives Belgrade additional levers of influence over the company's future ownership structure.
Context
The search for a new investor and talks about changing owners are linked to US sanctions requirements. To have the restrictions lifted, NIS must divest its Russian owners, so negotiations between Serbia and potential buyers, including MOL, have taken on political and economic significance.
