Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on March 28 that the United States has postponed sanctions on Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) for another 30 days.

The company was included in a broad package of US sanctions against Russia’s energy sector introduced in January, as former president Joe Biden was leaving office. Since then, negotiations have been ongoing between NIS representatives and US and Russian officials.

"We succeeded! We received another 30 days of sanctions deferral for NIS. Thank you to all the people in Serbia who fought and thank you to our American partners for their understanding. We have preserved stability, we are returning Serbia to the path of success," Vucic posted on Instagram.

The deferral follows a similar one-month delay granted at the end of February. The sanctions, which were set to take effect on March 29 at 6 a.m. Central European time, have now been postponed once again, according to the Serbian president.

NIS is majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom and its subsidiary Gazprom Neft. The company is the sole supplier of oil in Serbia and controls the majority of gas pipelines that transport Russian gas to Serbian households and industries. It also supplies fuel to neighboring countries, including Bosnia, Romania and Bulgaria.

The latest deferral follows changes in NIS's ownership structure. In February, Gazprom Neft reduced its majority stake in the company from 51% to around 46%, while Gazprom, the parent company, increased its stake by an additional 6%. Unlike Gazprom Neft, Gazprom itself is not subject to US sanctions.

US authorities had previously expressed a desire to eliminate Russian influence in Serbia's oil sector entirely. However, as US policy toward Russia shifts under President Donald Trump’s administration, some are questioning whether Washington still intends to proceed with tough sanctions on the Serbian oil sector.

Trump has reportedly ordered the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to draw up a list of sanctions that could be lifted. With the US moving toward rapprochement with Russia, it may have little interest in penalising Serbia for its ties to the Kremlin.

Former president Biden’s administration imposed stringent sanctions on Russian oil as a last hurrah in January, just before Trump was inaugurated. Given the dramatic recalibration of US foreign policy since then, Serbia may now be hoping for a more indefinite delay.