US gives waiver so India can buy Russian oil for 30 days

The United States has issued a 30-day waiver that will allow for India to purchase Russian oil, coming after the Trump administration issued a 25 percent "penalty" tariff for the country when it was purchasing oil from Russia last month, which was later lifted.

The move was announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said on X, "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."

"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. India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of U.S. oil. This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage," he added.

The waiver will likely ease worries about oil supply globally, as the war in Iran has escalated over the last week. India is the fourth-largest oil refiner in the world and the fifth-largest exporter of petroleum products, according to CNBC. Although New Delhi has been replacing oil purchases with supply from the Middle East, with the conflict in the Gulf states, India has been pivoting to get more oil from Russia.

“I’ve heard that Indian refiners have been actively seeking prompt Russian crude supplies since last weekend,” Muyu Xu, a senior research analyst at Kpler said. Citing "market chatter," he said that India has likely bought up to 6-8 million barrels of oil from Moscow over the last few days as the conflict has increased.

This also comes as there has been increased tension between the US and China. Iran was a heavy supplier of oil to China before the war. Since the conflict began, China has ordered refiners to stop exporting petroleum products from the country. If the move from the US increases demand for oil in India being bought up from Russia, this may compete with China's interests in buying up Russia's oil supply.