BP has won a two-week reprieve from Russian regulators who had been expected to cancel a lucrative gas license in Siberia held by one of the British oil company's joint ventures.

The company had been expected to lose access to the field, following a court judgement this week.

On Monday, TNK-BP, which owns 63 per cent of Rusia Petroleum, the ultimate license holder for gas production in the lucrative Kovytka field in East Siberia, lost a legal battle in a Russian court which it had hoped would forbid attempts to cancel the licence.

The licence has been under threat from Russia's Natural Resources Ministry for more than four years, amid claims that under its terms the

Kovytka field should be producing more than three times as much gas as it currently does.

TNK-BP has told Russian regulators it cannot increase supply above the current level of 2.5 billion cubic litres a year, because there is no local demand for extra gas and the company has been refused an export licence.

Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive, held talks with the Russian gas company Gazprom in Moscow on Thursday, but has so far been unable to find a compromise option to save the company's licence.

However, Rosnesdra, the Russian licencing authority, said it had suspended a final decision over the licence for a fortnight because of the "complexity of the issue".

Analysts said the delay in the decision could reflect the hope that further negotiations will still produce a solution to the dispute - or simply that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is keen to avoid an embarrassing political incident ahead of this weekend's G8 summit in Germany.

Chris Weafer, a strategist at Alfa Bank, said: "The delay indicates negotiations are continuing at a serious level and Putin can attend the G-8 without facing sharp criticism."

However, there was also confusion over whether the decision on the license had actually been taken. Despite Rosnedra's statement, the Natural

Resources Ministry said the matter had been settled and that the decision could be announced as soon as its chief environmental inspector had signed the paperwork.