BSS/AFP) - Russian interests are negotiating their withdrawal from key Serbian oil company NIS which now faces US sanctions, Serbia`s energy minister said Tuesday.

After allowing several postponements since January, the US Treasury started applying sanctions against NIS on October 9 as part of a campaign by US President Donald Trump against the Russian energy sector over the Ukraine war.

NIS is the latest Eastern European energy company to seek a new owner because of sanctions. Bulgaria`s parliament on Friday passed a law to let a major refinery owned by Russia`s Lukoil come under state control.

Hungary`s Prime Minister Viktor Orban meanwhile has secured a one-year exemption from US sanctions so that his country can keep buying Russian oil.

Russia`s Gazprom Neft and its owner Gazprom have held nearly 45 percent of NIS since 2009. Gazprom recently transferred about 11 percent to another Russian firm, Intelligence. The Serbian state has just under 30 percent.

Serbian officials feared that continued Russian control of NIS could harm the Balkan country`s economy.

"The Russian owners of the NIS company have sent a request to OFAC (the US Treasury`s Office of Foreign Assets Control) to request an extension of the operating licence, on the basis of negotiations with a third party," Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic said in a statement on Instagram.

"The request indicates that the Russian side is ready to cede control and influence in the NIS company to a third party," added the minister, who did not indicate who the potential buyer was.

- Talks with US -

NIS runs Serbia`s main refinery at Pancevo near Belgrade which supplies about 80 percent of the country`s needs.

The Serbian government has "officially supported" the Russian request and OFAC could give an answer this week, the minister said. "We must find a solution."

Later on Tuesday, President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed the talks between the "Russian state... and a third party".

Vucic told the pro-government broadcaster Pink TV that according to his knowledge they were currently negotiating about the NIS management structure.

"Whether the Americans will be satisfied with that, or whether they will say: `We accept the management structure, but we also want a change of ownership in the coming period,` remains to be seen," he said, pledging his determination to "protect Serb interests".

NIS employs about 13,500 workers and has more than 400 petrol stations, mostly in Serbia, with 80 in Bosnia, Bulgaria and Romania.

The firm had turnover of 3.3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in 2024 but announced a loss of 153 million euros overall that year.