US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday (local time) announced a temporary authorization for nations to purchase Russian oil stranded at sea in a bid to contain skyrocketing oil prices in the wake of the war between US-Israel and Iran.
Stating that US President Donald Trump was “taking decisive steps to promote stability in global energy markets and working to keep prices low”, Bessent said that that the measure announced was “short-term” and applied to only oil stranded at sea.
“To increase the global reach of existing supply, [US Treasury Department[ is providing a temporary authorization to permit countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea,” said Bessent.
“This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction,” he added.
The new Russia-related general license announced by Bessent allows the sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels through April 11, according to the Treasury Department website.
The license, which covers oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels as of March 12, comes a day after the US Department of Energy announced that Washington would be releasing 172 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve in an effort to curb rising oil prices in the wake of the war in Iran.
That release was part of a broader commitment by the 32-nation International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels of oil, reported Reuters.
(This is a developing story. Check back for updates)