(Bloomberg) — The United States issued a general license to allow some Russian oil sales to India, giving the country more options to buy fuel as the escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf cuts off a key production region.
The license covers transactions related to the sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products loaded on ships before March 5, as long as they are delivered to India and purchased by an Indian company. The action ends on April 4 at 12:01 a.m. Washington time.
The move comes months after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Indian goods in an attempt to pressure Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to abandon energy purchases from Russia.
“To enable oil to continue flowing to the global market, the Treasury Department has issued a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said in a post on X. “This intentionally short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government because it only allows transactions related to oil already stuck at sea,” he added.
As of late last week, there were 9.5 million barrels of Russian oil in Asian waters.
Indian state refiners and government officials met earlier this week to consider emergency measures including shifting to Russian cargoes idling near its waters. The Oil Ministry urged diplomats to seek room for maneuver from Washington.
India became the most important buyer of Moscow’s seaborne oil after the invasion of Ukraine, but the country has been reducing the volume of its exports in response to US pressure – especially after a US trade deal was reached last month that eliminated punitive tariffs. Since then it has kept its purchases of Russian oil to a minimum.
Some Indian refiners are already feeling the impact of tight supplies. India’s Mangalore Refining and Petrochemical Company has told customers it will suspend exports of petroleum products, and shut one of its three crude oil processing units due to low inventories, people familiar with the matter said.
(Updates from fifth paragraph with more context)
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