Serbia's Russian-owned oil firm NIS faces US sanctions as waiver expires

BELGRADE, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Serbia's Russian-owned oil company NIS NIIS.BEL has failed to secure another waiver from U.S. sanctions, it said on Thursday, jeopardising fuel purchases for the Balkan country's sole refiner and biggest importer.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on NIS, one of Russia's last remaining energy assets in Europe, in January, part of a wider move to isolate Russian energy assets.

A series of waivers delayed the measures until Thursday, when NIS said that no further postponement was forthcoming.

"The special license from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which enables seamless operational business, has not yet been extended," it said in a statement.

Gazprom Neft SIBN.MM holds a 44.9% stake in NIS, and an investment unit of Gazprom GAZP.MM has about an 11.3% stake. The Serbian government has a 29.9% stake.

NIS, which supplies gasoline to around 350 petrol stations in Serbia, sought to ease consumers' concerns on Thursday. It said that it had secured enough oil to continue running its refinery in Pancevo, near Belgrade, which has an annual capacity of 4.8 million metric tons.

Its retail director, Bojana Radojevic, said petrol stations would continue to operate as usual.

"There are no restrictions when it comes to the quantities people can take, so there is no need for them to stockpile," Radojevic said.

In its statement, NIS said that customers could use dinars, the local currency, if payments via international credit cards stopped. It said that it would meet contractual obligations with its business partners.

NIS supplies around 80% of Serbia's diesel and gasoline demand, and 90% or more of jet fuel and heavy fuel oil, a trader told Reuters.

Serbia imports crude along the JANAF JANF.ZA pipeline from Croatia. JANAF said on Wednesday that the U.S. had extended a license for it to transport crude to Serbia until October 15. However, it is not clear if NIS will be allowed to accept more deliveries.