The US has renewed a sanctions exemption allowing Russian crude and petroleum products already loaded onto tankers to be delivered and sold freely, the US Treasury Department has announced. The move came despite a pledge by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made two days prior that the waiver would not be extended.
On Friday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general license covering Russian oil loaded onto vessels as of April 17 and authorizing transactions through May 16. The waiver replaces an earlier 30-day order – which took effect on March 19 – and extends to services including safe docking, crew safety, emergency repairs, and insurance, even for previously sanctioned vessels.
The goal of the initial waiver was to contain the spike in oil prices caused by the Iran war and the de-facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
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