Serbia's NIS oil company seeks third sanctions waiver from US

BELGRADE (Reuters) -Serbian oil company NIS, majority-owned by Russian Gazprom Neft and Gazprom, has asked the U.S. for a third waiver from sanctions which could cut its crude supply, it said on Wednesday. NIS operates a single oil refinery in Serbia with annualcapacity of 4.8 million tons and covers most of the Balkan country's needs.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)initially placed sanctions on Russia's oil sector on January 10,and gave Gazprom Neft 45 days to exit ownership of NIS.

NIS has so far secured two waivers, with the second one set to expire on April 28.

"The goal of this request is to enable the company to operate smoothly after April 28," NIS said in a statement on its website.

On March 14 NIS also submitted a request to the U.S. Treasury Department for its removal from the sanctions list, it said.

OFAC first delayed sanctions for NIS for 30 days on February 27 to March 28 to allow the company to find a solution with the Russian companies.

On February 26, Gazprom Neft transferred stakes of around 5.15% in NIS to Gazprom in an attempt to ward off sanctions.

Gazprom Neft owns 44.85% of NIS, while Gazprom has 11.3%. The Serbian government holds 29.87% of stakes, with small shareholders accounting for the rest.

NIS imports about 80% of its needs through Croatia's pipeline operator Janaf. The remainder is covered by its own crude oil production in Serbia.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)