The United States Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, stated on Friday that the government is considering lifting sanctions on additional Russian oil supplies. This comes a day after Washington temporarily authorized India to purchase oil from Moscow, amid a sharp rise in global oil prices.
The ongoing conflict involving the United States and Israel against Iran, along with Tehran’s retaliatory strikes across the Gulf region, has significantly disrupted global energy and transportation sectors. Activity in the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz has been virtually halted.
Crude oil prices surged by 8.5% on Friday, marking an overall increase of nearly 30% for the week. The spike followed remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said that only the “unconditional surrender” of Iran would bring an end to the Middle East conflict.
“We may unsanction other Russian oil,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business on Friday.
“There are hundreds of millions of barrels of sanctioned crude on the water. In essence, by unsanctioning them, the Treasury can help create additional supply,” he added.
Washington has emphasized that these measures are not intended to ease broader restrictions on Moscow, which were imposed due to its conduct in negotiations related to ending the war in Ukraine. Instead, the measures apply solely to oil supplies that are already in transit.
“We’re going to maintain a steady pace of announcing measures to bring relief to the market during this conflict,” Bessent noted, acknowledging that high oil prices remain a significant concern both domestically and globally.
Meanwhile, Kremlin economic adviser Kirill Dmitriev confirmed that discussions on the matter are ongoing with the United States. In a post on X, he stated that “Western sanctions have proven detrimental to the world economy.”
On Thursday, the U.S. government temporarily relaxed economic sanctions to allow Russian oil currently stranded at sea to be sold to India. The authorization includes transactions involving vessels affected by various sanctions regimes.
According to the announcement, these transactions will be permitted until the end of the day on April 3, 2026.
