TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United States is considering lifting sanctions on additional Russian oil shipments to temporarily alleviate global supply shortages, said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Fox News on Friday, as quoted by Anadolu.
This statement follows the U.S. decision to grant India a 30-day temporary waiver to purchase Russian oil, in an effort to maintain the global supply.
"The Indians had been very good actors. We had asked them to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil this fall. They did," said Bessent.
He added that India had initially planned to replace those purchases with crude oil from the U.S., but the Department of the Treasury granted permission to import Russian oil in order to address the supply shortage.
Bessent mentioned that the U.S. Department of the Treasury is considering releasing additional sanctioned shipments of Russian crude oil into the market.
"We may unsanction other Russian oil," he said. "There are hundreds of millions of barrels of sanctioned crude on the water ... by unsanctioning them, Treasury can create supply."
He added that President Donald Trump's administration plans to continue announcing measures aimed at reducing pressure in the global energy market.
The statement comes amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, disrupting passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy trade.
Traffic through the waterway sharply slowed after the U.S. and Israel's attacks on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory strikes, which have led to an increase in oil prices and triggered concerns about global supply.
Read: Global Oil Prices Hit Five-Year High Amid Hormuz Closure
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