Serbia says the Russian majority owners of its state-linked oil company have agreed to sell their stake to a Hungarian energy giant, in a move aimed at keeping the business operating under U.S. sanctions pressure.

The report from AFP via France 24, dated [2026-01-19], says Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic announced that Gazprom Neft and MOL had agreed on the basic provisions of a future sale and purchase agreement. The proposal would still have to be negotiated further and then sent to Washington for approval.

The timing is critical because the Petroleum Industry of Serbia, known as NIS, has already been under sanctions strain. Washington’s restrictions forced a refinery shutdown in early December, threatening the only refinery that supplies about 80 percent of Serbia’s fuel. A temporary U.S. reprieve allowed the refinery to restart on Sunday, and NIS has a licence to keep operating until January 23, as well as a separate licence to negotiate a sale until March 24.

The report says Serbia has been trying to avoid a sanctions-enforced shutdown while reshaping ownership. Belgrade is also seeking to raise its own minority stake to around 35 percent, a move the minister said would give the state greater decision-making rights. That indicates the government is not only trying to transfer Russian ownership but also to reassert some domestic control over a strategic asset.

The ownership structure is the result of an older deal. Serbia sold a majority stake in NIS to Gazprom in 2008 for 400 million euros, and the Russian side later invested several billion euros in the company. Today, Gazprom Neft holds 45 percent, while Gazprom transferred its 11.3 percent stake in September to an affiliated firm called Intelligence.

MOL is not the only interested party. Djedovic Handanovic also said Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is involved in talks as a potential participant in the purchase. The report further said MOL had committed to keep operating the Pancevo refinery, easing concerns that the plant could be shuttered as part of any ownership change.

This is a sanctions story, an energy-security story and a sovereignty story at once. Serbia is trying to keep fuel flowing, protect a key industrial asset and reduce exposure to U.S. penalties while balancing ties with Russia and Hungary. The broad contours are clear even if the final deal is not.

The one thing this report does not provide is certainty. It does not say that the sale has closed, only that the sides have agreed on basic terms and that the proposal will move through further negotiations and U.S. review. In other words, Serbia has not solved the problem yet; it has only found a possible path around an immediate shutdown risk.