NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of the Treasury has eased sanctions for 30 days to allow India to import Russian oil currently stranded at sea, as Iran closed the vital oil transit route of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Department of the Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control 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 March 5, 2026 to India.'
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the 30-day waiver was a 'deliberate short-term measure' to ensure oil supply in the international market amid escalating Middle East war.
'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 wrote on X.
Bessent stressed that India being an essential partner of the United States, '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,' he added.
Even before the Middle East war started, India, which depended heavily on Russian energy, was under pressure from the U.S. Government to stop purchasing its oil to restrict Russian revenues that are used to fund the war on Ukraine.
Oil prices surged more than 10 percent since the United States and Israel launched military attacks on Iran Saturday, and Iran retaliated with strikes targeting Israeli and U.S. military installations in the Gulf region and its Middle East allies.
Crude price is likely to increase further over concerns of increasing disruptions in the global energy supply chain due to the escalating hostilities.
A number of ships were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz, triggering tanker rates and insurance costs to surge, reports say.
Vessel traffic plunged through the vital trade route due to the threat of more Iranian attacks on ships transiting the region.
Earlier, Iranian navy had declared the Strait is closed.
20 percent of the world's liquefied natural gas and 25 percent of seaborne oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway leading to the Persian Gulf.
Oil could top $100 if transit through the Strait of Hormuz doesn't return to normalcy quickly, reports quoting energy expert say.
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