US renews Russian oil sanctions waiver for 1 month, days after signaling it would not do so
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Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
The U.S. Treasury Department issued a temporary license on April 17 renewing a sanctions waiver that allows countries to purchase Russian oil stranded at sea.
The general license, issued by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, replaces a previously expired waiver that was valid until April 11.
The effective extension of the waiver comes just two days after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that the Trump administration "will not be renewing the general license on Russian oil," as well as another waiver on Iranian oil.
"That was oil that was on the water prior to March 11. So all that has been used," Bessent said at a White House briefing on April 15.
The latest general license is set to expire on May 16 and is effective immediately.
After granting the initial sanctions waiver in March, Bessent called the temporary authorization a "narrowly tailored, short-term measure" which applied "only to oil already in transit."
Bessent further claimed that it "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."
Global oil and gas prices surged after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. In response, Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a route that carries roughly 20% of the world's oil supply.
The war in the Middle East has been a boon for Russia, which reaped a windfall from higher energy prices and more demand for its oil and gas.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on April 14 upgraded Russia's growth forecasts for 2026 by 0.3% off the back of higher energy prices. The fund now forecasts that Russia's economy will grow by 1.1% in 2026.
"The main driver of the upgrade to Russia's growth this year comes from an increase in the price of oil and gas," Alfred Kammer, director of the European Department at the IMF, said during a press conference on Europe's economy on April 17.
Brent crude oil, a widely used global benchmark, rose to near $120 a barrel in March, prices last seen in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In recent days, the price for brent crude fell below $90 a barrel on April 17, after the ten-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect. Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi also claimed on April 17 that the Strait of Hormuz was "completely open" to commercial ships.
