According to the Serbian business publication Parametar, the Serbian oil and gas company NIS has submitted a new request to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury for a special license that would allow the company to continue its operations beyond September 30. The current license expires on that very day.
NIS emphasizes that the company’s uninterrupted operations, the stable operation of the oil refinery in Pančevo, and the regular supply of petroleum products to the Serbian market are crucial for the country’s energy stability.
U.S. sanctions against NIS were imposed in early 2025 due to Russian ownership stakes in the company. Since then, OFAC has repeatedly issued temporary licenses allowing NIS to continue its operations.
At the same time, the process of restructuring NIS’s ownership continues. Hungary’s MOL is in negotiations with Gazprom Neft regarding the acquisition of a 56.15% stake in NIS. In June, the Serbian government and MOL already signed a shareholders’ agreement outlining the future governance model for the company should the deal be finalized.
To finalize the deal, not only is a purchase and sale agreement between MOL and Gazprom Neft required, but also additional approvals from regulatory authorities, primarily OFAC. Serbia has also agreed to the possibility of increasing its stake in NIS by another 5 percentage points.
Serbian authorities had previously reported that a company from the UAE might also participate in the future structure of the deal. This refers to the possible entry of a Middle Eastern investor into NIS’s capital following the completion of the deal with MOL.
As of June 30, 2026, Gazprom Neft owned 44.85% of NIS, the Republic of Serbia owned 29.87%, and another 11.3% was held by JSC Intelligence. The remaining shares are held by minority investors.
NIS remains Serbia’s key oil company. It owns an oil refinery in Pančevo, and the company’s network of gas stations also operates in neighboring countries in the region.
Currently, the main question for the Serbian energy market is whether OFAC will extend the license before the current permit expires on September 30, while negotiations regarding the change in NIS ownership are still ongoing.
The Turkish company ASTOR Enerji A.Ş., which specializes in electrical equipment manufacturing, plans to implement a project worth up to $200 million in the Kyiv region, which will involve the production of energy storage systems and transformers, according to the Kyiv Regional Development Agency.
“The company is considering investing up to $200 million in the creation of a modern manufacturing complex in the Kyiv region. The project involves the production of energy storage systems, battery solutions, electrical equipment, and transformers,” the agency stated in a post on LinkedIn on Tuesday.
It notes that a corresponding memorandum with ASTOR Enerji A.Ş. was signed by the Kyiv Regional Military Administration with the agency’s support during the Carpathian Eight Summit.
The agency notes that for the Kyiv region, the implementation of such a project will mean the creation of new production capacity and jobs, further industrial development, the introduction of advanced technologies, and enhanced energy resilience.
It explained that it will continue to support the project through the next stages: from selecting potential investment sites and engaging with local communities to coordinating further steps with the investor.
More than half of the new enforcement proceedings regarding wage arrears in Ukraine during the first eight months of 2026 were concentrated in just two sectors—electricity and gas supply, and chemical production.
According to OpenDataBot, 1,545 enforcement proceedings were initiated against companies in the electricity and gas supply sector from January through August, accounting for about one-third of all new cases involving wage arrears.
Another 989 proceedings, or 21%, were initiated against chemical manufacturers.
Thus, these two sectors together accounted for about 55% of all new enforcement proceedings related to wage arrears in the country.
The next sector by number of proceedings was the manufacture of other transportation equipment, with 263 cases. Machinery manufacturing companies accounted for 235 proceedings, and electrical equipment manufacturers for 191.
In total, 4,621 new enforcement proceedings regarding wage arrears were registered in Ukraine from January through August 2026, which is 16% fewer than a year earlier.
The high concentration of debt in the energy and chemical industries is linked, in particular, to the presence in these sectors of large enterprises with complex financial situations and significant accumulated debt to employees.
In particular, among the companies with a large number of new enforcement proceedings in 2026 are Sumykhimprom, the Odesa Port Plant, Karpatnaftochim, and Dniproazot.
Source: OpenDataBot, Unified Register of Debtors.
Hungary plans to meet the country’s natural gas needs without supplies from Russia by October 2027, said István Kapitány, the country’s Minister of Economy and Energy.
“If everything goes as we expect, Hungary’s gas supply will be secured from other, non-Russian sources by the deadline set by the European Union in October of next year,” the minister said in an interview with Telex published on September 18.
According to Kapitány, Hungary’s high dependence on Russian gas did not arise from a lack of technical capacity to purchase fuel from other countries. Hungary is connected by gas pipelines to several neighboring countries, and the Russian supply system was used for a long time primarily because it was considered the most cost-effective option. The minister did not specify by how much the share of Russian gas has already decreased in recent months.
The deadline is directly linked to new EU regulations. EU Regulation 2026/261 provides for the cessation of imports of Russian pipeline gas under long-term contracts after September 30, 2027. In exceptional cases, if a country is unable to ensure the required level of storage filling, the deadline may be extended to November 1, 2027.
For Hungary, the transition is particularly significant, as the state-owned MVM maintains a long-term contract with Gazprom Export for approximately 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The contract originally runs through 2036; however, MVM’s own documents note that the European ban will effectively prevent the use of Russian long-term supplies after the fall of 2027. The company is already expanding its portfolio of alternative gas sources.
LNG is becoming one of the key areas of focus. MVM ONEnergy has signed a five-year contract with the U.S.-based Chevron for approximately 2 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas. Deliveries under this contract are scheduled to begin on October 1, 2027, immediately after EU restrictions on Russian pipeline gas take effect.
In addition, MVM has reached an agreement with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR for the supply of 800 million cubic meters of gas over a two-year period starting in 2026.
Romania is emerging as another potential source. The development of the Neptun Deep field in Romania’s sector of the Black Sea is expected to begin production in 2027. Once it reaches full capacity, it is projected to supply approximately 8 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which will create additional opportunities for deliveries to Central Europe, including Hungary.
Thus, Captain’s statement signals a significant shift in Hungarian energy policy: Budapest, which in previous years had opposed an accelerated phase-out of Russian fuel, is now preparing its gas supply balance to meet EU requirements by the fall of 2027. At the same time, the minister emphasized that the country has sufficient gas supplies for the current heating season and that the authorities do not anticipate any problems with the physical availability of fuel.
According to Experts Club, the global oil market has entered a phase of a major fuel crisis following more than half a year of declining commercial stocks of crude oil and petroleum products, while the options for further drawing on strategic reserves are becoming increasingly limited, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing executives from the largest U.S. oil companies.
As the publication notes, U.S. oil companies have been warning for several months that prolonged restrictions on shipments through the Strait of Hormuz would ultimately lead to a fuel shortage. Now, according to their assessment, that moment has arrived.
Global commercial fuel stocks have been declining for more than six months. At the same time, governments have already been actively drawing on strategic reserves to keep prices in check, so the volume of available additional supply has dropped significantly. The WSJ emphasizes that this does not mean government reserves have physically run out, but rather that the scope for new large-scale interventions is becoming significantly narrower.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth stated as early as September 11 that the reserves and other mechanisms that had kept oil prices from rising for several months “have largely run their course.” According to him, global commercial oil reserves were at high levels at the beginning of the year, but by September they had declined significantly.
The attack on the East-West oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia—which allows oil to be exported bypassing the Strait of Hormuz—dealt an additional blow to the market. Analysts estimate that after the pipeline was shut down, at least 2.5 million barrels of oil per day disappeared from the market.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) also confirms these supply issues. The agency describes the situation as the largest disruption to oil supplies in the history of the global market. Before the crisis, approximately 15 million barrels of crude oil and another 5 million barrels of petroleum products passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily, which together accounted for about 20% of global oil consumption.
To stabilize the market, IEA member countries agreed back in March to release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves—the largest such release in the agency’s history. However, as the crisis drags on, this reserve mechanism is becoming less effective.
According to the latest available IEA data, from the start of the Middle East crisis through the end of July alone, global observed oil stocks fell by approximately 410 million barrels, or an average of 2.7 million barrels per day. Total stocks fell below 7.9 billion barrels for the first time since April 2025.
The situation is particularly tense in the diesel and jet fuel markets. The IEA notes a sharp decline in international shipments of petroleum products and a record increase in refining margins. Diesel exports from Russia, the Middle East, and Asia were approximately 1.3 million barrels per day lower than last year’s level, accounting for about one-fifth of global seaborne diesel trade.
An additional risk stems from China. In previous months, the country had cut imports and partially drawn down its own stockpiles, helping to curb global demand. However, by August, Chinese refineries were already processing more crude oil than was supplied by current imports and domestic production, prompting the country to draw down its stockpiles more aggressively.
Against this backdrop, Brent crude is once again trading above $100 per barrel. Following a new attack on Saudi infrastructure, Brent prices rose to approximately $107.5 per barrel on September 15, while WTI prices climbed above $103.
The IEA identifies the restoration of full-scale oil and petroleum product shipments through the Strait of Hormuz as the key factor capable of quickly stabilizing the market. Without this, the global economy will remain vulnerable to new disruptions, as a significant portion of the reserves that helped the world weather the first months of the crisis has already been depleted.
Source: The Wall Street Journal article “Oil Executives Say the Great Fuel Crisis Is Here” dated September 15, 2026.
According to Experts.news, Ukraine increased its imports of transformers, inductors, and chokes by 49% in January–August 2026 compared to the same period last year—to $1.02 billion—with China accounting for nearly 88% of all shipments of these products, according to data from the State Customs Service.
Over the eight-month period, Ukraine imported $890 million worth of transformers, inductors, and chokes from China, accounting for 87.7% of total imports in this product category.
A year earlier, imports from China totaled $563.4 million, or 82.7% of Ukraine’s imports. Thus, over the course of the year, China not only significantly increased the volume of its exports but also raised its share of the Ukrainian market by approximately 5 percentage points.
Turkey and Germany remained other major suppliers. Turkey accounted for about 3% of imports, while a year earlier its share was 2.5%. Germany’s share, conversely, fell from 5.8% to 1.4%.
The growth rate of transformer equipment imports has been gradually slowing throughout 2026. In the first quarter, imports increased by 81% year-over-year; in the first half of the year, by 63%; and from January through August, growth stood at 49%.
In August 2026, Ukraine imported transformers, inductors, and chokes worth $115.7 million, which is 7.7% more than in August of last year.
The high volume of purchases of transformer equipment persists amid the need to restore and modernize Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
In March 2026, the Cabinet of Ministers removed transformers from the list of goods that could be imported on preferential terms under agreements with the EU Secretariat. In May, the European Business Association appealed to First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal with a proposal to temporarily exempt certain types of power transformers from import duties and VAT.
At the same time, Ukraine continues to export its own transformers and related electrical equipment. From January through August 2026, the value of these exports totaled nearly $24.8 million, compared to $19.9 million a year earlier. The main export markets were Germany, Poland, and Hungary.
By comparison: for the full year of 2025, Ukraine imported transformers, inductors, and chokes worth $1.12 billion, which was 88% higher than the 2024 figure. Imports from China rose 2.3-fold during that period—to $957.3 million.
Thus, in just the first eight months of 2026, the volume of Ukraine’s imports of these products approached the figure for the entire previous year, and China further solidified its status as a key supplier of transformer equipment to the Ukrainian market.
