ATHENS, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Russian owners are ready to

give up control of the of U.S.-sanctioned Serbia-based oil firm

NIS following U.S. sanctions, Serbian energy minister

Dedovic Handanovic said in a post on Instagram on Tuesday.

NIS, which operates Serbia's sole refinery, is 44.9% owned by

Russia's Gazprom Neft SIBN.MM and 11.3% by Gazprom GAZP.MM,

while the Serbian government owns 29.9%.

The Russian owners of NIS have sent a request to the U.S.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, stating that they

were ready to give up control and influence over NIS to a third

party, Handanovic said.