Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday issued a waiver allowing countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products at sea, for about a month, seeking to control global energy prices that have shot higher during the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran, the media reported.
A month ago, Washington had issued a similar sanctions waiver allowing India and other countries to buy Russian oil. The fresh move will benefit India again.
The US Treasury Department allowed purchases of the oil loaded on vessels as of Friday (April 17, 2026) through May 16, an extension of an original 30-day waiver that expired on April 11, according to a document posted to the department’s website.
This extension came two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington will not renew the waiver that allowed countries to purchase Russian oil without facing US sanctions.
Russia’s presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev had said the first waiver would free 100 million barrels of Russian crude, equal to almost a day’s worth of global output.
Although the reprieve on sanctions could temporarily boost world supplies of oil, it has not prevented petroleum prices from spiking because of the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil and gas was shipped daily before the West Asian war began on February 28.
The waivers could complicate the West’s efforts to deprive Russia of revenue for its own ongoing war in Ukraine and put the US at odds with its allies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, for instance, has said it is not the time to relax sanctions against Russia.
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