US announces 30-day waiver for countries to buy Russian oil stranded at sea

The United States on Thursday announced a 30-day waiver allowing countries to purchase sanctioned crude oil and petroleum products from Russia that are already stranded at sea, in an effort to cool crude oil prices hovering around $100 per barrel amid the conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran.

The waiver authorises the delivery and sale of Russian oil that was loaded on vessels before March 12, and will remain valid until April 11, according to an order issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department.

“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,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement posted on social media platform X.

He added that the US is working to promote stability in global energy markets and keep crude oil prices under control.

Earlier this month, the US had issued a similar 30-day waiver on March 5 allowing India to purchase Russian oil, following which India significantly increased its imports. According to maritime intelligence firm Kpler, India has purchased around 1.63 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude so far in March.

As of early March, around 130 million barrels of Russian crude were floating at sea, including cargoes in the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Suez shipping routes and waters near Singapore.

The move by the administration of US President Donald Trump comes as global energy prices have surged amid the escalating conflict in West Asia, with the United States also approaching its mid-term elections.

Separately, the US has also announced the release of 172 million barrels of crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserves, as part of a broader commitment by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 400 million barrels of oil to help ease global crude prices.

Earlier this week, the IEA said the ongoing war in West Asia has created one of the largest oil disruptions in history.