Hungary’s MOL and Abu Dhabi–based energy giant ADNOC are forming a joint venture that will take over strategically important parts of Serbia’s Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), effectively reshaping ownership and control over the company’s upstream oil and gas operations. Rather than partnering with NIS itself, the two companies are establishing a separate corporate vehicle into which selected NIS assets will be transferred.
Under the planned arrangement, MOL — already the dominant shareholder in NIS — will retain the leading role, while ADNOC will enter as a minority partner, marking a notable expansion of Middle Eastern involvement in Serbia’s energy sector.
The move is widely seen as a consolidation of MOL’s control over NIS, with ADNOC providing capital, technical expertise and geopolitical weight in return for access to regional energy resources.
Critics argue that the deal amounts to a de facto takeover of NIS’s most valuable segments, carried out through corporate restructuring rather than a formal acquisition. Supporters, however, frame it as a strategic realignment aimed at strengthening production, sharing risk and positioning NIS-linked assets within a broader international energy network at a time of heightened global competition and uncertainty.
