U.S. temporarily lifts sanctions on Russian oil as Middle East war drives up energy prices
The United States has temporarily eased sanctions on Russian oil that is currently at sea. The exemptions, issued by the Treasury Department on Thursday, will remain in effect until April 11.
Writing on X, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move aims “to promote stability in global energy markets” and “keep prices low” amid the ongoing war in the Middle East. “To increase the global reach of existing supply, [the Treasury Department] is providing a temporary authorization to permit countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea,” he wrote.
“This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction,” Bessent added.
Oil prices have surged dramatically since late February, when the U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran. Subsequently, Tehran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a channel in the Persian Gulf that carries almost a quarter of the world’s oil. On March 9, Brent Crude reached almost $120 per barrel, a price not seen since June 2022.
Citing data from the analytics company Kpler, The Bell reported that approximately 130 million barrels of Russian oil were on tankers as of March 6, a significant portion of which were delayed in transit due to sanctions. Indian refineries have already purchased approximately 30 million barrels since the U.S. granted them a temporary 30-day waiver to purchase Russian oil on March 5.
According to President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for foreign investment, Kirill Dmitriev, the U.S. Treasury Department has now lifted restrictions on roughly 100 million barrels of Russian oil currently in transit. “Against the backdrop of the growing energy crisis, further easing of restrictions on Russian energy supplies appears increasingly inevitable, despite resistance from some in the Brussels bureaucracy,” he wrote on Telegram Thursday.
