To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil. This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea, he said in a post on X.
“India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of U.S. oil. This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage,” Bessent said.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing Russia-related General License 133, “Authorizing the Delivery and Sale of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products of Russian Federation Origin Loaded on Vessels as of 5 March 2026 to 4 April to India, as per a notification shared by him.
The delivery or offloading of such crude oil or petroleum products occurs at a port in the Republic of India and the purchaser of such crude oil or petroleum products is an entity organized under the laws of the Republic of India, the notification said.
A majority of energy is transported through the Strait of Hormuz, located between Oman and Iran and the vital artery for global energy trade, which has been shut. India imports 85 per cent of its crude oil and half of its LNG requirement. Of this, 40-50 per cent of crude oil and 50-60 per cent of LNG are shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.
Also read: https://industrialeconomist.com/west-asia-conflict-a-look-at-potential-sectoral-impact/
