The Trump administration on Thursday issued a new license allowing countries to temporarily purchase certain Russian oil products, the same day Brent crude prices settled above $100 per barrel for the first time since August 2022 as the war with Iran drags on.
Temporarily lifting the sanctions on oil from Russia, a major exporter, comes despite previous US pressure on Russian oil companies as part of a bid to stem the flow of cash funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
“To increase the global reach of existing supply, @USTreasury is providing a temporary authorization to permit countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on social media. “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.”
The license, posted to the US Treasury site, only applies to Russian crude or petroleum products loaded on vessels as of March 12. The license authorizes those shipments through April 11.
