Serbia's NIS oil company seeks fourth sanctions waiver from US

June 20 (Reuters) - Russian-owned Serbian oil company NIS NIIS.BEL has asked the United States for a fourth waiver from sanctions which could cut its crude supply, it said on Friday.

NIS, which is majority-owned by Russia's Gazprom Neft SIBN.MM and Gazprom GAZP.MM, operates Serbia's only oil refinery. The facility has an annual capacity of 4.8 million tons and covers most of the Balkan country's needs.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) initially placed sanctions on Russia's oil sector on January 10, and gave Gazprom Neft 45 days to exit ownership of NIS.

NIS has so far secured three waivers, with the third one set to expire on June 27.

On March 14, NIS submitted a request to the U.S. Treasury Department for its removal from the sanctions list, it said.

"Despite the complex environment in which the company operates, NIS continues with regular supply of the domestic market with all kinds of oil derivatives, and remains devoted to maintaining social stability of its employees," the company said in a statement on its website.

On February 26, Gazprom Neft transferred a stake of around 5.15% in NIS to Gazprom in an attempt to ward off sanctions.

Gazprom Neft owns 44.85% of NIS, while Gazprom has 11.3%. The Serbian government owns 29.87%, with small shareholders accounting for the rest.

NIS imports about 80% of its oil needs through Croatia's pipeline operator Janaf. The remainder is covered by its own crude oil production in Serbia.