ATHENS, June 6 (Reuters) - Hungary's largest oil and gas

corporation, MOL MOLB.BU, has been granted more time by the U.S.

government to negotiate the purchase of a majority stake in

Serbia's NIS NIIS.BEL, an oil company controlled by Russia, MOL

said late on Saturday.

The deal involves buying a 56.16% stake held by Russia's

Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM) in NIS.

NIS is subject to U.S. sanctions imposed in October over its

Russian ownership, part of broader measures targeting Moscow's

energy sector following its invasion of Ukraine. Washington has

been pushing for the divestment of the Russian stake, and NIS

has secured a series of waivers from the U.S. government in the

interim.

MOL has received a license from the U.S. Treasury's Office

of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to continue negotiations until

June 16, it said in a bourse filing.

Negotiations have progressed materially and the current

additional license extension allows for the finalization of

transaction documentation, MOL said.

MOL secured last month a two-week extension until June 6 to

finalise talks before requesting another extension on Wednesday

to complete the talks.