U.S. lets Russia oil sales waiver expire

The Trump administration has allowed a temporary waiver for some Russian oil sales to expire, ending a short-lived easing of sanctions that had let buyers take delivery of cargoes already loaded on tankers. Bloomberg reported on May 16 that the waiver lapsed even as the Iran war has tightened global oil markets and pushed up concern about fuel costs. The move closes, for now, a narrow channel the United States had opened in March and extended in April for a subset of Russian crude that would otherwise have been barred. OFAC's Russia sanctions page lists the latest authorization as General License 134B, dated April 17, 2026. ### Which waiver expired, exactly? OFAC on April 17 issued Russia-related General License 134B, authorizing the delivery and sale of crude oil and petroleum products of Russian Federation origin that had been loaded on vessels as of April 17, 2026. OFAC's sanctions program page identifies that license by name, and Treasury's recent-actions page shows Russia-related license activity on March 19, April 17 and April 29. Bloomberg reported the administration first issued a waiver in March and then a second one after the first expired in April. (bloomberg.com) Bloomberg said the waiver applied only to a subset of Russian oil already at sea, not to fresh unrestricted purchases of Russian crude. That distinction mattered because the administration had described the measure as a wind-down tool tied to cargoes already loaded onto tankers. ### Why had Washington opened that window in the first place? (ofac.treasury.gov) March 13 was the date Bloomberg reported the United States issued an authorization letting countries buy more Russian oil stuck on tankers as the White House sought to prevent prices from surging. Reuters reported on March 8 that Energy Secretary Chris Wright and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz defended the waiver as a way to ease pressure on the global market during the Iran war. (bloomberg.com) Waltz called it "a 30-day pause" to let oil already on ships reach Indian refineries, while Wright said it could help "tamp the price spikes." Scott Bessent said in April that the administration changed course after requests from vulnerable importing countries. Bloomberg reported Bessent told a Senate panel that "more than 10 of the most vulnerable and poorest countries in terms of energy" had approached him seeking an extension. ### Why was the waiver controversial? European allies objected to the reprieve because they viewed sanctions on Russian oil as a way to cut revenue flowing to Moscow. (gcaptain.com) Bloomberg reported the waivers were controversial with European governments that saw them as essential to depriving Russia of crude income for its war in Ukraine. A separate Bloomberg report carried by gCaptain said six G7 members had signaled opposition to the U.S. easing, according to remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. (gcaptain.com) The administration had already let a separate temporary waiver for some Iranian crude expire in April, Bloomberg reported. That left the Russian waiver as a narrower and more politically exposed exception while oil markets remained under strain. ### What does Syria's Baniyas terminal have to do with this story? April 8 is the date Reuters photographed the Russian-flagged tanker Bratsk near Syria's Baniyas oil terminal. (gcaptain.com) Reuters identified the vessel as being under U.S. sanctions for links to the Russian state-owned shipping company Sovcomflot. The image has circulated as a concrete example of the shipping and enforcement environment around Russian-origin cargoes moving through third countries. Reuters reported on May 1 that Russia had become Syria's main oil supplier, with shipments rising 75% to about 60,000 barrels per day this year, based on Reuters calculations using official announcements and ship-tracking data from LSEG, MarineTraffic and Shipnext. That reporting did not say the expired U.S. waiver covered all such flows, but it showed how Russian oil continued moving into markets that remained dependent on outside supply. (reutersconnect.com) ### What should readers watch next? Treasury's OFAC website is the next place to watch for any replacement license. Treasury's recent-actions page lists new general licenses by date, and the Russia sanctions program page identifies active Russia-related authorizations. As of May 17, 2026, those pages show the latest Russia-related general-license actions on April 29 and no new Russia oil sales waiver dated after the April 17 authorization cited by Bloomberg. (usnews.com) (ofac.treasury.gov)