In exchange for extending the Black Sea Grain Initiative that established a humanitarian maritime corridor to allow ships to export grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine, Russia may be allowed to export its ammonia through the same corridor that Ukraine currently uses to export food.

The Financial Times newspaper reported this, citing people familiar with the matter.

Negotiators are confident the two sides will agree to extend the agreement before it expires on Saturday, 19 November, the newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper’s sources, a compromise has been reached with Russia on allowing the state-owned Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to make payments for its own agricultural exports and reopening the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, which transports ammonia through Ukraine.

The extension is being negotiated by the United Nations, a process that involved bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, the newspaper reports.

Under the revised agreement, Russia would be able to use the same Black Sea route transporting the bulk of Ukraine’s agricultural exports since August.

This means that Russia will be able to resume using the pipeline to transport ammonia through Ukrainian territory before reaching a port near Odesa.

"We are discussing the possibility of exporting Russian ammonia in a pipeline that crosses Ukraine through the same routes (through Ukrainian ports)," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in mid-September.