Easing sanctions on Russian oil will not benefit Moscow

The US Treasury Department issued a second authorization to purchase shipments of Russian oil already carried on tankers at sea, expanding the scope of the temporary exemption from sanctions imposed on the purchase of Russian oil that it had granted to India only last week, as part of efforts to ease pressures on energy prices as the war in the Middle East continues.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said in a blog post on social media that this step is “a carefully designed short-term measure that applies only to oil actually transported, and will not bring any tangible financial benefit to the Russian government.”

The US government has taken a series of steps to confront the rise in crude and fuel prices since the start of the Iran war two weeks ago, such as its intention to pump 172 million barrels from the US Federal Emergency Reserve. It has also put forward other ideas such as interfering in energy futures markets, and stopping the implementation of a law that has been in effect for a century, requiring the use of US ships to transport goods between US ports. Analysts said that this step, which would increase the volume of supply, is welcome, but does not represent a solution.

Bloomberg News Agency quoted the director of the commodity research department at Westpac Banking, Robert Rennie, as saying: “Of course any supplies will help, but this help is smaller than it seems.”

Rennie estimated that there are between 125 and 150 million barrels of Russian crude oil, representing a third, off the coast of China, and will likely end up in storage, in addition to between 30 and 40 million barrels in India, and this amount will likely be consumed there. According to Bloomberg ship-tracking data, there are about 30 tankers in Asian waters carrying Russian crude and petroleum products available for purchase. These ships display an “on call” signal, which means that they do not have a clear destination yet, or that they are heading to Singapore or Malaysia, where tankers usually wait until the cargoes they carry are sold.

. The US government has taken a series of steps to confront the rise in crude and fuel prices.