US grants sanctions waiver to Serbia's Russia-owned NIS oil firm until March 20

BELGRADE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department has extended a sanctions waiver on Serbia's Russian-owned NIS NIIS.BEL until March 20, giving the Balkan country another month to import crude oil supplies, energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said on Friday.

The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on NIS in October as part of broader measures targeting Russia's energy sector over Moscow's war in Ukraine.

"NIS will now be able to import crude oil, ... and to continue to supply market with crude oil products," Djedovic Handanovic said in a statement.

Last December, the OFAC gave NIS until late March to negotiate the divestment of majority stakes held by Russia's Gazprom Neft SIBN.MM and Gazprom GAZP.MM.

On January 19, Hungary's MOL MOLB.BU said it had signed a binding agreement with Russian companies to buy their stake in NIS, which operates Serbia's only oil refinery in the town of Pancevo, just outside Belgrade.

Djedovic Handanovic said she plans to travel to the U.S. next week to seek solutions for sanctions against NIS.

"The talks between Gazprom Neft and MOL, in which we are included, are continuing. Next week we will have intensive talks ... to improve our position," she said.

MOL said the UAE's ADNOC would be a minority stakeholder in NIS.

Gazprom and Gazprom Neft hold 11.3% and 44.9% stakes in NIS, respectively. The Serbian government has a 29.9% stake, while the remainder belongs to small shareholders and employees.