The SA government is considering easing US sanctions on Russian oil to curb rising oil prices. This was stated by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday in an interview with Fox News.
The announcement comes a day after the US Treasury Department granted India a waiver from US sanctions to buy Russian oil stranded at sea. Scott Bessent claims that there are currently large quantities of Russian oil in tankers at sea.
- We can lift sanctions on even more Russian oil. There are millions of barrels of sanctioned crude oil at sea. And in practice, the Treasury Department can create additional supply by lifting the sanctions, Bessent tells Fox News.
After the United States and Israel launched a military operation in Iran last Saturday, the price of crude oil has risen by almost 30 percent.
This is because shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has largely come to a standstill after the United States and Israel started the war. One-fifth of the world's oil consumption passes through the narrow strait every day.
Will not drop all sanctions
Scott Bessent denies to Fox News that the US government is generally easing restrictions on Russian oil, as it only concerns oil that is at sea.
- We will continue to come up with new measures that can ease the pressure on the market during this conflict, says Bessent.
In an attempt to put pressure on Russia in connection with its invasion of Ukraine, the US government imposed sanctions on Russian oil last year. The justification was that oil money helps finance the war in Ukraine.
At that time, India was among the largest importers of Russian oil. About 35 percent of India's total oil supply came from Russia.
Last year, US President Donald Trump doubled US import duties on Indian goods from 25 to 50 percent due to India's purchase of Russian oil.
The import duties have since been lowered after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi - according to Trump - promised that India would stop buying oil from Russia.
/ritzau/AFP
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