Serbian Vucic anticipates signing a contract to sell NIS Oil by March

The Tanjug News Agency reported that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expected binding terms to be submitted by the U.S. office of foreign assets control within 48 hours for the sale Russian-owned oil firm NIS.

Vucic, in an interview on Tuesday with Tanjug, Abu Dhabi, said that a final?contract could be signed by the Russian owners of NIS 'by February or march. He added that the U.S. may extend an operating licence for NIS once they receive the term sheets.

Vucic said to Tanjug that "after we deliver binding contract terms, it's clear in which direction we are going and there would be hardly any deal-breakers after that."

In October, the United States sanctioned?NIS as part of wider measures targeting Russia's oil sector in response to Moscow's conflict in Ukraine. The company was granted a temporary operating license until January 23. This gave it a short window to purchase international cargoes during the winter.

Washington also gave?NIS a deadline of March 24 for negotiating the divestment?of stakes in Russia's Gazprom, and its oil division, Gazprom Neft. This unit is also subject to Western sanctions.

The Serbian government said that it supported ongoing sales talks between Russian owners and Hungary's MOL. (Reporting and editing by Louise Heavens, Bernadette Baum, Daria Sito-Sucic; Additional reporting by Angeliki Kooutantou)

(source: Reuters)