The United States Department of the Treasury has granted a temporary 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil, amid the ongoing conflict involving Iran, officials said.
Announcing the decision on March 5, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move is aimed at maintaining stability in the global energy market and ensuring that oil shipments already stranded at sea are able to reach buyers.
“President Donald Trump’s energy agenda has pushed oil and gas production to record levels. To help keep oil flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil,” Bessent said.
He described the waiver as a short-term step, adding that it would not provide major financial gains to Russia as it applies only to oil cargoes that had already been loaded onto vessels.
Bessent also referred to the strategic partnership between the United States and India and expressed hope that New Delhi would expand its purchases of American energy.
“This stop-gap measure will ease pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to hold the global energy market hostage,” he said in a post on the social media platform X.
Earlier, the Trump administration had imposed a 25 per cent punitive tariff on India for continuing to import Russian crude oil, arguing that such purchases were helping finance Russia’s war against Ukraine.
However, the two sides recently announced a framework for an interim trade agreement. Following this, Trump signed an executive order removing the tariffs after India committed to gradually cut its energy imports from Russia and increase purchases of oil from the United States.
According to the Treasury Department, the waiver authorises transactions related to the sale, delivery or offloading of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products that had already been loaded onto vessels by March 5, 2026.
The authorisation will remain valid until April 4, 2026, provided the shipments are delivered to ports in India and the buyer is an entity registered under Indian law.
The general licence also clarified that the waiver does not allow any other transactions prohibited under existing executive orders, including those involving Iran or Iranian-origin goods and services restricted under US sanctions regulations.