Serbia prepares amendment to enable takeover of Russian-owned refiner, official says

BELGRADE, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Serbia is preparing an amendment to the draft budget law that would enable it to take ownership of its Russian-owned, U.S.-sanctioned oil refiner NIS NIIS.BEL, the parliament speaker told Euronews Serbia on Tuesday.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed sanctions on Russia's oil sector in January, including NIS, which is majority owned by Russia's Gazprom Neft SIBN.MM and Gazprom GAZP.MM. The U.S. granted NIS repeated waivers before the sanctions finally came into effect in October.

Ana Brnabic, a close ally of President Aleksandar Vucic, said on Tuesday evening that the parliament would start debating amendments to the budget law, prepared by the country's ruling SNS party, on Wednesday afternoon or on Thursday.

"One of the amendments that will be submitted will be the one that will foresee the circumstance that at some point we will take over NIS," Brnabic told Euronews.

Vucic said on Tuesday that NIS oil refinery will shut down in four days if the United States does not lift sanctions, risking fuel supplies ahead of winter.