Starting today, October 8, US sanctions against the Serbian oil company NIS, which operates the country's only refinery and is controlled by Russia's Gazprom Neft, will take effect. This move marks the culmination of a lengthy process in which Washington repeatedly granted temporary waivers to soften the blow to the Balkan economy, but ultimately imposed stricter restrictions. NIS was added to the US Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) in January 2025 as part of measures targeting the Russian energy sector, in which Gazprom Neft owns 44,9 percent of the shares, while Gazprom itself holds an additional 11,3 percent; the remaining stake is held by the Serbian government and minority shareholders.

The restrictions were originally scheduled to take effect in February, but US authorities gave Russian shareholders 45 days to exit. Since then, a series of deferments followed: in March, July, August, and September, with the latest postponement of just a few days—from October 1 to 8. As the company noted in an official statement on October 1, the US Treasury Department issued a special license allowing operations to continue until today to avoid immediate chaos in the fuel market.