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Serbia expects UAE partners to join planned transaction
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Negotiations to continue till March 24 deadline
(Adds comments from MOL throughout)
BELGRADE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Russia's Gazprom Neft has reached a provisional agreement to sell its majority stake in Serbian oil refiner NIS to Hungary's MOL, Serbia's Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said on Monday.
She said the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which imposed sanctions on NIS over its Russian ownership, would need to approve the transaction, according to a statement to the Video Plus news service.
MOL said in a statement that it had signed a binding agreement with Gazprom Neft to buy the Russian firm's 56.16% stake in NIS.
NIS supplies about 80% of Serbia's fuel market and holds around half of the retail segment.
Djedovic Handanovic said that partners from the United Arab Emirates were expected to be involved in the future sale agreement as talks continue towards a March 24 deadline.
MOL said it was in talks with ADNOC about the UAE national oil company being a minority investor in NIS.
MOL TO MAINTAIN OUTPUT AT SERBIA'S SOLE REFINERY
Djedovic Handanovic said MOL would be obliged to keep Serbia's sole refinery at Pancevo, operated by NIS, running at previous output levels and to raise production if needed.
OFAC imposed sanctions on NIS in October as part of wider measures targeting Russia's energy sector over the war in Ukraine, forcing the Pancevo refinery offline and raising domestic supply concerns.
NIS was granted a sanctions reprieve by OFAC until January 23.
Russia's Gazprom holds an 11.3% stake in NIS, while its sanctioned oil unit Gazprom Neft owns 44.9%. The Serbian government has 29.9%, with the remainder held by small shareholders and employees. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Additional reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic and Marek Strzelecki; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Mark Potter)
