The US allows MOL, the Hungarian oil company, more time to negotiate with NIS, the Serbian oil company.

The?U.S. has?granted more time to Hungary's largest oil-and-gas company, MOL MOLB.BU. MOL announced late Saturday that the government will 'negotiate' the?purchase of a majority share in Serbian NIS NIIS.BEL. This oil company is controlled by Russia.

The deal involves the purchase of a?56.16 % stake in?NIS held by Gazprom (SIBN.MM), based in Russia.

NIS was subject to U.S. sanction imposed by the U.S. government in 'October due to its Russian ownership. This is part of wider measures that target Moscow's energy sector following its invasion of Ukraine. Washington has been pushing for the divestment from Russian ownership, and NIS secured a number of waivers in the interim.

MOL received a license from U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to continue negotiations until the 16th of June, it was reported in a bourse filing.

MOL stated that the negotiations have made significant progress and that the current additional licence?extension will allow for the 'finalization of the transaction documentation. MOL obtained a two-week extension last month to June '6 in order to finalise the talks. Then, on Wednesday, they requested another extension to finish the talks.

(source: Reuters)