Washington: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that America wants to end the general license that allows countries, including India, to buy Russian oil “as quickly as possible.” While testifying before the US Senate, Rubio avoided making a firm commitment to terminate the license, stating that the decision would be made based on the prevailing circumstances.
“Ultimately that’s a decision that the Treasury Department made, but I will tell you it depends on the circumstances at the time,” Rubio said when asked if the Trump administration would commit to ending the general license, which is set to expire later in June. “We would like to end it as soon as possible because the basic policy of this country is to impose sanctions on their oil. These are time-limited waivers for the purpose of opening up more global supply.”
In March of this year, the Trump administration issued two 30-day licenses allowing the purchase of previously sanctioned Russian and Iranian energy. The licenses were intended to allow greater volumes of energy supplies to flow into the global market and reduce prices that rose rapidly after the United States and Israel launched military strikes on Iran in late February. Later, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent announced in April that Washington would not renew the licenses. Ultimately, a new general license allowing the purchase of energy from Russia was issued while the license allowing the purchase of Iranian energy was terminated.
The US Treasury’s decision came after numerous reports that officials from Asian countries, including India, were pressuring Washington to extend general licenses. India subsequently increased its energy purchases from Russia. According to reports citing data from analytics firm Kpler, India’s oil imports from Russia jumped 23% to 1.9 million barrels per day in May. Indian refiners such as Reliance had previously halted purchases from Russian suppliers such as Rosneft and Lukoil due to US sanctions against major energy companies.
For its part, New Delhi stressed that its decisions related to purchasing energy are dictated by market conditions and the need to secure energy for India’s population of 1.4 billion people. Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said in April: “With regard to energy sources, we have told you on several occasions about our policy. It is based on meeting the requirements of our population of 1.4 billion people, as well as the market conditions and the global situation at hand. This remains our policy with regard to energy sources. There has been no change.”
However, the Trump administration’s decision to extend general licenses allowing the purchase of Russian energy has proven controversial within America. US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pressed Rubio on the general licensing issue during the latter’s testimony on Tuesday. Sahin said the license greatly benefited the Russian economy, which relies heavily on energy exports, and geopolitical competitors such as China.
