The United States has allowed India to purchase Russian oil already loaded on ships at sea, calling the move a temporary step aimed at easing pressure on global energy supplies amid the ongoing West Asia crisis.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the decision was taken to stabilise the oil market as geopolitical tensions threaten supply routes. “The world is very well supplied in oil. Yesterday, the Treasury Department agreed to let our allies in India start buying Russian oil that was already on the water,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business on Friday.
He noted that India had earlier complied with Washington’s request to halt purchases of sanctioned Russian crude. “The Indians had been very good actors. We had asked them to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil this fall and they did. They were going to substitute it with US oil. But to ease the temporary gap of oil around the world, we have given them permission to accept the Russian oil,” he said.
Bessent added that hundreds of millions of barrels of sanctioned crude are currently stored on ships, and allowing them into the market could help stabilise supply. “In essence, by unsanctioning them, the Treasury can create supply. We are looking at that and will continue announcing measures to bring relief to the market during this conflict,” he said.
Several officials in the administration of US President Donald Trump have also confirmed the temporary policy shift. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Washington is allowing India to refine Russian oil already floating near southern Asia to ensure global supplies continue flowing during the conflict involving Iran.
“We are allowing our friends in India to take oil that is already on ships, refine it and move those barrels into the market quickly. A practical way to get supply flowing and ease pressure,” Wright said in a post on X.
Speaking to ABC News Live, Wright said global oil supplies remain abundant in the long term, but short-term disruptions caused by tensions around the Strait of Hormuz have created market pressure. He said a large volume of Russian crude has been sitting in floating storage around southern Asia after buyers such as China slowed purchases.
“We’ve reached out to our friends in India and said ‘buy that oil and bring it into your refineries’. That pulls stored oil immediately into Indian refineries and reduces pressure on other refineries around the world,” Wright said. Officials emphasised that the step is temporary and does not represent a broader change in Washington’s sanctions policy toward Russia.
On Thursday, the US Treasury Department issued a 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian crude already loaded onto vessels before March 5, 2026. Bessent said the measure would not significantly benefit Moscow financially because it only applies to oil already stranded at sea.
“India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of US oil. This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage,” he said.
The development comes months after the Trump administration imposed a 25 per cent punitive tariff on India for buying Russian oil, arguing the purchases were helping fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine. However, the tariff was later removed after India and the US reached a framework for an interim trade agreement, with New Delhi committing to reduce imports of Russian energy and expand purchases of American oil.
According to the US Treasury’s general licence, the waiver authorises transactions involving Russian crude loaded onto vessels on or before March 5, provided the cargo is delivered to ports in India by April 4. The licence also clarified that it does not permit any other transactions prohibited under US sanctions, including those involving Iran or Iranian-origin goods and services.
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