New Delhi: The US Friday issued a temporary 30-day waiver to India to purchase Russian oil already stranded at sea, following the impact the West Asian conflict has had on the global energy market, including the suspension of production of oil and natural gas by countries in the region.
“President (Donald) Trump’s energy agenda has resulted in oil and gas production reaching the highest levels ever recorded. To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil,” Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary, said in a statement on X.
“This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorises transactions involving oil already stranded at sea. India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of US oil. This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage.”
President Trump’s energy agenda has resulted in oil and gas production reaching the highest levels ever recorded.
To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil.…
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) March 6, 2026
The waiver is necessary after Washington imposed sanctions on two of the largest Russian oil firms, Rosneft and Lukoil, in October 2025. India has been able to get the waiver as it has maintained room to manoeuvre and negotiate with the US. New Delhi did not condemn the US-Israel strikes on Iran, and has made no comment on the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last Saturday.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, however, signed the condolences book opened by the Iranian Embassy in the national capital Thursday, condoling the death of Khamenei and ensuring diplomatic protocol is maintained.
The US took action given that global prices have surged after a number of countries in West Asia, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, suspended the production of natural gas and refining of petroleum products at their manufacturing facilities.
Iran’s retaliation against the US and Israel for the assassination of Khamenei has seen attacks on a number of installations in half a dozen countries, including Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
State-owned QatarEnergy earlier this week announced that it is suspending the production of natural gas and its downstream products. Saudi Arabia’s Aramco had to shut down operations at its largest refining facility at Ras Tanura. A number of shipping companies have announced the suspension of loading products from the region.
US President Donald Trump announced that his administration may help protect oil tankers in the region and will also insure ships carrying energy from the region.
However, India, which has roughly 25 days of crude oil stock, according to reports, will be able to reroute its purchases from Russia.
Moscow had emerged as one of India’s largest suppliers of crude since its war with Ukraine began in 2022. In 2024-25 financial year, India imported $56 billion worth of crude from Russia.
India’s purchases of Russian oil had picked up following the imposition of a price cap by the G7 nations, ensuring that Moscow’s crude would remain cheaper than the prevailing global prices.
The large purchases of Russian oil, however, irritated the US under Trump. Seeking to curb India’s Russian oil purchases, it imposed 25% penalty tariff on Indian exports to the US, in addition to a base reciprocal tariff of 25% last August. In October 2025, Trump further sanctioned Russian oil firms.
India’s purchases of Russian energy dipped from the end of 2025, enough that the US removed the 25% tariff last month as part of an interim trade deal agreed with India.
New Delhi has maintained that its oil purchases are dictated by the prevailing market conditions. People familiar with the matter in the past have pointed out that any dip in the purchase of Russian oil is due to the fact that Indian firms were not keen on facing American sanctions.
The “stop-gap” waiver, as stated by Bessent, is thus an important caveat. The US, one of the world’s largest producers of oil and natural gas, has been pushing India to increase its purchases of American energy products. Such purchases have increased in the last year since Trump’s return to the White House.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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