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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s administration on April 17 issued a waiver allowing countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products at sea for about a month, seeking to control global energy prices that have shot higher during the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The US Treasury Department allowed purchases of the oil loaded on vessels as at April 17 through May 16, an extension of an original 30-day waiver that expired on April 11, according to a document posted to the department’s website.
The extension comes two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington will not be renewing the waiver that allowed countries to purchase Russian oil without facing US sanctions.
Russia’s presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev had said the first waiver would free 100 million barrels of Russian crude, equal to almost a day’s worth of global output.
Though the reprieve on sanctions could temporarily boost world supplies of oil, it has not prevented petroleum prices from spiking due to the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas was shipped daily before the war.
The waivers could complicate the West’s efforts to deprive Russia of revenue for its war in Ukraine and put Washington at odds with its allies.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, for instance, has said it is not the time to relax sanctions against Russia. REUTERS
