The Trump administration on Thursday night temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil shipments in an effort to calm markets and stem the economic fallout from its war on Iran, which has sent crude prices spiraling upward.
A general license issued by the Treasury Department allows Russia to begin selling some 128 million barrels of oil that are estimated to have already been loaded onto tankers previously sanctioned by the United States. The license expires after 30 days.
“To increase the global reach of existing supply, @USTreasury is providing a temporary authorization to permit countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted Thursday night on X. “The temporary increase in oil prices is a short-term and temporary disruption that will result in a massive benefit to our nation and economy in the long-term.”
On Thursday, futures for Brent crude oil closed at just above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022.
The move will provide a huge financial boost to Russia, which experts say has already been receiving about $150 million per day from increased oil sales since the U.S. attacked Iran two weeks ago.
It is certain to draw a rebuke from congressional Democrats, who attacked the administration for easing sanctions on Russian oil earlier this month, which allowed limited sales only to India. The latest license is far more expansive, permitting sales anywhere in the world.
“This self-made global energy shock is serving to enrich [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and line his war coffers by offering him windfall profits,” several Senate Democrats said in a statement on March 6. “Instead of changing course, the President is only making this situation worse by handing Putin, his shadow fleet, and traders still dealing in sanctioned oil a free pass to increase oil shipments to Russia’s second-largest importer. The new channels for evasion the President is opening, coupled with dramatically higher global energy prices, are giving Putin a huge financial boost and the means to continue his bloody war in Ukraine.”
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