US temporarily lifts sanctions on Russian oil

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has authorized the sale, delivery, or offloading of Russian crude oil and petroleum products until April 11, creating a roughly four-week window intended to relieve surging global prices. The notice eases a yearslong effort by the US and its allies to squeeze Russia's finances after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Russia could benefit from the temporary lift but that gains would be limited. "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 wrote on X.

Still, an analysis from Urgewald showed Russia's fossil-fuel export revenues averaged 510 million euros ($587 million) per day in the week following the strikes — about 14% higher than February's daily average.

United States

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