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Informist, Friday, Mar. 6, 2026

 

--US: Issuing 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to buy Russian oil
--US: Waiver for India oil buys from Russia only for cargoes stranded at sea

 

NEW DELHI – The US is issuing a 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to buy Russian oil, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday. The measure will allow India to buy oil from Russia only for cargoes stranded at sea helping alleviate some pressure on India from Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz for some vessels, with the naval passage facilitating 40-50% of India's crude oil imports.

 

"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," Bessent said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea."

 

The Strait of Hormuz has effectively been shut after the US and Israel, in a joint attack, struck Tehran and killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei Saturday. Near-month Brent crude futures are up over 15% this week at $83.80 a barrel at 0653 IST.

 

Under the first tranche of an India-US trade deal struck Feb. 2, the US committed to cutting reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from an overall 50%, including a tariff linked to India's strategic partnership with Russia. At the time, the US Treasury said it has the right to monitor India's imports to ensure India does not import Russian oil, in line with the trade deal. After the US Supreme Court struck down most tariffs imposed by him in 2025, President Donald Trump imposed a baseline 10% tariff on all US imports for 150 days which came into effect Feb. 24. A rise in that tariff to 15% is scheduled to kick in this week, Bessent said Wednesday.  End

 

US$1 = INR 91.60

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Aaryan Khanna

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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