US boasts about un-sanctioning its own sanction on Russian oil, admits that India buying Russian crude will keep global oil prices stabilised

· OpIndia

The US Treasury Department has been tying itself in knots trying to convince the world that they control India’s energy purchase priorities. On March 6, the Treasury Department issued a notice announcing that it is ‘allowing’ India a 30-day waiver to purchase Russian crude currently in tankers at sea.

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Speaking at a news show, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright was seen explaining how the 30-day waiver ‘allowed’ by them was necessary for the stabilisation of global oil prices because Russian crude getting refined at India’s refineries reduces the burden on global refineries and keeps oil prices stabilised at a time when there is a supply crunch.

“China does not treat their suppliers well. So there is a bunch of floating barrels just sitting there. So we have reached out to our friends in India, we said ‘buy their oil, bring it into your rifineries. That puts stored oil into the Indian refineries and releases the pressure on other refineries around the world. …We have a number of measures like it that is short term and temporary. There is no change in our policy towards Russia. This is a very brief change in policy, just to keep oil prices down”, Chris Wright stated on ABC News Live.

On another news show, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox, “Yesterday, Treasury agreed to let our allies in India start buying Russian oil that is on the water. The Indians have been very good actors. We had asked them to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil, and they did. They are going to substitute it with US oil. But there is a temporary gap in oil around the world. So we have given them permission to accept Russian oil. We may un-sanction other Russian oil too. There is one thing Treasury can do here. There are hundreds of millions of barrels of sanctioned crude on the water, and in essence, by un-sanctioning them, the Treasury can create supply. We are looking at that. We are going to be announcing measures to bring relief to the market.”

He added that there is an ‘other side’ of this change in stand, that can keep oil prices sustainable. 

The US lies and hypocrisy

The only thing more glaring here than the obvious lie that the US controls India’s oil purchases is the sheer hypocrisy of the US government to insinuate that their sanctions are a blessing for the world, and when they pretend to un-sanction their own sanctions, it is again for the benefit of the world.

India never stopped buying Russian oil in the first place. India’s purchase has decreased or increased depending on supply and economy since it started purchasing Russian crude in large quantities in 2022 (because it was available at discounted prices). Regardless of US claims of making India “stop” buying Russian oil, India imported over 20% of its crude from Russia in February 2026.

The Indian government has told time and again, even in their parliament, that Indian purchase of crude, any crude, is a sovereign decision driven by national interest. India imports over 80% of its crude oil, and India buys wherever it is available cheaply. 

The US claims of ‘stopping’ and ‘allowing’ are both false 

Secondly, here, the Trump administration itself is admitting that India buying Russian crude keeps global prices down. This is something that was corroborated by India’s Ministry of External Affairs last year when it said that the USA government had conveyed to them that India should keep buying Russian oil to keep the global oil market sustainable. The US government flipped on its own stand when it slapped 25% additional tariffs on India for buying Russian oil.

Bessent and Wright may have to keep their domestic MAGA fanbase appeased, and for that, they need to proclaim time and again that they are the ones controlling the global oil purchase through sanctions. But the reality is India has always bought oil as per its needs and national interests. India may have avoided certain sanctioned entities due to legal issues, but Russian oil has been flowing into India consistently since 2022.

As of now, an increasing number of tankers carrying Russian crude are docking at Indian ports. The world is in the grip of a potential supply crunch of oil and gas because, in a sad irony, the USA has started another war.

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