Trump administration eases restrictions on Russian oil to ease pressure on energy markets

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Friday that Donald Trump's administration decided to ease certain restrictions on Russian oil and evaluate additional measures to potentially lift some sanctions, as rising tensions in Iran following military operations executed by the United States and Israel push up global energy prices. During an interview on Fox Business, Bessent explained that the Republican administration will allow India to buy Russian oil cargoes that were already in transit.

"Yesterday, Treasury agreed to let our allies in India start buying Russian oil that was already on the water. The Indians had been very good actors. We had asked them to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil this fall. They did. They were going to substitute it with U.S. oil, but to ease the temporary gap of oil around the world, we have given them permission to accept the Russian oil," Bessent said. He also indicated that additional steps could be taken, such as "unsanction other Russian oil."

Rising oil prices

Energy markets have been rising all week after the U.S. launched strikes against Iran, a country near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important sea routes for transporting oil, as about 20% of the world's crude oil passes through it daily. By Friday, both international benchmark Brent crude oil and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil were trading above $90 per barrel, up about $20 from the previous week.

Elsewhere in the interview with journalist Larry Kudlow, Bessent noted that the Treasury Department was examining other ways to increase global supply, noting that large quantities of sanctioned crude remain stranded. "The other thing Treasury can do here, Larry, is, there are hundreds of millions of… barrels of sanctioned crude on the water and in essence, by unsanctioning them, Treasury can create supply. We are looking at that. We're going to keep a cadence of announcing measures to bring relief to the market," the secretary said.