US weighs easing sanctions on Russian oil

The Trump administration is considering lifting sanctions on additional Russian oil supplies as fighting around Iran drives global crude prices higher, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said. Speaking to Fox Business, Bessent argued that “hundreds of millions of barrels” of sanctioned crude are already on the water and that unsanctioning them could “create a supply”, according to Agence France-Presse in The Guardian.

The move follows a narrower step taken a day earlier: Washington temporarily authorised India to buy Russian oil that is already stranded at sea, with the waiver running until 3 April. US officials have framed the measures as market management during the conflict rather than a change in policy towards Moscow, insisting the authorisation is limited to cargoes in transit.

The timing highlights how sanctions are enforced in practice: not as a fixed moral stance but as a valve that can be opened when prices become politically painful. Oil surged this week as the war disrupted transport and insurance appetite in the Gulf, with the Strait of Hormuz described by The Guardian as virtually halted. When shipping lanes become uninsurable, “supply” is no longer about production capacity; it is about which cargoes can be financed, loaded, and delivered.

For India, the waiver formalises a reality that has existed since the start of the Ukraine war: refiners adapt to US pressure when it bites, then seek carve-outs when global conditions change. For Russia, it offers a way to monetise cargoes already afloat without any new drilling decision. For Washington, it is a way to dampen domestic fuel-price pressure while keeping the broader sanctions architecture intact on paper.

Europe is left with the structural consequences. Earlier coverage in this section has tracked how the Iran war pushed European gas prices sharply higher through war-risk premia and freight costs even before any sustained physical disruption. If the US can selectively relax restrictions to stabilise oil markets, it underscores the asymmetry: European industry and households pay the risk premium while the sanctioning power retains the ability to reprice the system when it needs relief.

Bessent said the administration would keep “a cadence” of measures to “bring relief to the market” during the conflict. The relief, for now, is being offered through paperwork that reclassifies oil already at sea.

The immediate fact is that Washington is weighing whether to unsanction more Russian crude. The deadline on the India waiver is 3 April.