The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has extended to November 21, from October 22, a general licence allowing companies to negotiate and enter into contingent contracts to buy the international assets of Russian oil major Lukoil, SeeNews reported on Thursday, citing OFAC.

Source: SeeNews / OFAC

The extension lands as Russia and the United States discuss the future of Lukoil's sanctioned overseas assets, the Kyiv Post reported, citing remarks on Wednesday by Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov. The firm's sanctioned overseas assets are valued at approximately $22 billion — yaani about 2,200 crore dollars, spread across oil fields, refineries and fuel stations from Iraq to Europe.

A sale that has already slipped past two buyers

Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil producer, accounts for around 2% of global oil output, Reuters has reported. Its biggest foreign asset is a 75% stake in Iraq's West Qurna-2 oil field, one of the world's largest, alongside the Lukoil Neftohim Burgas refinery in Bulgaria — the largest in the Balkans — and the Petrotel refinery in Romania.

An earlier agreed sale to commodities trader Gunvor collapsed after the US Treasury declined to approve it, and a January agreement with US investment firm Carlyle later lapsed; Carlyle told Reuters this month it was no longer actively pursuing the purchase, while talks with other potential buyers were under way. Any eventual sale still needs US sanctions approval, and proceeds owed to Lukoil would have to sit in a US-jurisdiction account until sanctions are lifted, under the Treasury's conditions reported earlier.

The Lukoil file has also folded into wider US–Russia diplomacy over ending the Ukraine war: the New York Times reported earlier this month that President Vladimir Putin raised the proposed sale with US envoys in September, arguing completing it would show Russians and Americans can do business together. No final buyer or price has been established.