Among the proposals under discussion are restarting the Sakhalin-1 joint oil venture off the Sakhalin coast and having US companies help restore Russian oil deliveries to Europe through the Druzhba pipeline, the newspaper reported.
US presidential special envoy Steven Witkoff spoke with Vladimir Putin about possible deals in early September, according to the FT. During a subsequent visit to Moscow he wrote a note in his notebook about "business deals" — photographs of which were published by the Kremlin press pool.
The White House said economic agreements must form part of a comprehensive peace settlement and have not yet been agreed. US officials stress that the projects could only get under way after the war ends.
Moscow, according to FT sources, sees the deals as a way to push Trump toward normalizing relations even before the fighting stops.
Other ideas are also being discussed: opening Russian airspace to US airlines, cooperation in titanium production, supplies of potash fertilizer, the sale of Lukoil's foreign assets, and Novatek's participation in a gas project in Alaska. Another option is resuming gas supplies to Europe through the surviving part of the Nord Stream pipelines.
Separately, consideration is being given to transferring control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to a US entity that would distribute energy between Kyiv and Moscow.
Meanwhile, the first trilateral talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine since February are expected in Abu Dhabi in November. They will focus on possible post-war security guarantees.
The US previously linked future guarantees for Ukraine to territorial concessions, but has since signaled it will not insist on Kyiv ceding land at the negotiating table, two FT sources said. Putin has so far shown no readiness to soften his negotiating position.
Many of the deals under discussion have little chance of success because of Putin's intransigence and the caution of American companies, the FT noted. ExxonMobil, which until 2022 held 30% of Sakhalin-1, has no plans to return to Russia for now.
"For Putin it is not about money, but about humiliation and control," the FT quoted an unnamed European diplomat as saying.
European diplomats oppose any easing of sanctions or deals with Russia before the war ends. They insist that decisions affecting EU interests require its consent.
Trump earlier reported an "extremely successful" conversation with Putin and an agreement on supplies of Russian diesel fuel to the United States. The US Treasury issued a general license suspending American sanctions against Russian diesel until April 2027.