Oil prices stay high despite US temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil stranded at sea

Oil prices traded near their highest level since 2022 Friday, shrugging off the Trump administration’s earlier decision to temporarily allow the delivery and sale of sanctioned seaborne Russian crude – a waiver aimed at mitigating a surge in prices following its attacks on Iran.

The license, posted to the US Treasury website, applies only to Russian crude and petroleum products loaded on vessels as of March 12 and authorizes those shipments through April 11.

“To increase the global reach of existing supply, @USTreasury is providing a temporary authorization to permit countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on social media. “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.”