The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has postponed sanctions on Serbia's Russian-owned NIS oil company, initially set for 1 October, by eight days.

The sanctions were part of measures imposed on Russia's oil sector on 10 January, with Gazprom Neft given 45 days to divest from NIS, reported Reuters.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was quoted by the Tanjug news agency as saying; "They (the US) wanted to show respect and to tell us they understand Serbia's position."

He further added that Serbia might have "something to offer" to resolve the situation.

"Whether that will be enough, and whether it would be what Americans want, we will see," he said.

NIS, in which Gazprom Neft holds a 44.9% stake, Gazprom 11.3% and the Serbian Government 29.9%, operates Serbia's sole refinery in Pancevo.

The Pancevo facility's annual capacity of 4.8 million tonnes covers most of Serbia's needs and sanctions could disrupt crude supply via Croatia's Janaf pipeline.

Earlier this year, Gazprom Neft transferred a 5.15% stake in NIS to Gazprom to avoid sanctions. Despite this, NIS was listed for sanctions due to its Russian majority ownership.

The full implementation of sanctions has been postponed six times this year through special licences from the US Department of the Treasury, reported European Western Balkans.

NIS has affirmed adequate reserves of crude oil and petroleum products. The company stated it is "continuing to cooperate with the US Department of the Treasury on the request to be removed from the sanctions list and to extend the licence".

Most of Serbia's crude oil imports are routed via Croatian pipeline operator Jadranski Naftovod (JANAF).

JANAF said that if the sanctions take effect, it would lose a significant part of its revenue.