Beginning March two important general licenses were issued by US OFAC, general license 133 and general license 134. Both of them, quite unexpectedly and in full contradiction to other G-7 countries, lifted US sanctions on the sale of Russian seaborne crude and petroleum products for the period until 4 April 2026 and 11 April 2026 (respectively). The brief history of these quite remarkable documents is as follows: first, OFAC issued general license 133 permitting sales to India only; then, a few days later, general license 134 was issued which has no geographical limitation as to the sale of the Russian seaborne crude and petroleum products, except that no sale are permitted to Iran. On 19 March 2026, general license 134A which added to prohibited destinations Cuba, North Korea, and certain regions of Ukraine, none of which are meaningful destinations for Russian seaborne oil in any case.
Neither license sets a requirement that the sale of crude / petroleum products shall occur below the Oil Price Cap. This, at least on one possible interpretation, means that, from the US point of view, not only Russia may now unrestrictedly sell its crude and petroleum products but may also do so at the current market price which substantially (as of writing – twice) exceeds both the original Oil Price Cap, let alone its subsequent reduction.
This is quite a remarkable turn-around in the US sanctions politics resulting from the current war in Iran and related increase in oil prices. Whether this temporary relief (envisaged now to end on 11 April 2026) is to be extended will be one of key questions to follow as far as the US sanctions’ policy with respect to Russia is concerned, given the overriding importance of crude oil / petroleum products exports for Russian economy. It is also useful to follow what (if any) the response of the EU will be, given that unlike the US, which is a net exporter of crude, the EU is a large net importer of crude.
As to the background on international sanctions against Russian crude and petroleum products as well as the background to the current trends in trade of Russian crude and petroleum products, please see our video. The main purchasers of Russian crude and petroleum products are China, India, and Turkey, but many other countries continue to trade in these products.
As to the last US sanctions against Russian oil majors (with which the decision reported in this post comes into conflict), please see our earlier post. As to US imposing tariffs on India for the purchase of Russian crude please see our video.