Overview
- The Treasury license allows delivery and sale of Russian crude and petroleum products already loaded by March 12, with validity through April 11, Washington time.
- The U.S. paired the waiver with a release of 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, part of an IEA plan to free 400 million barrels after the Iran conflict drove oil above $100 and disrupted Gulf shipping.
- In Paris, Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the decision not the right one and warned it could give Russia about $10 billion for the war, while Emmanuel Macron said rising prices should not prompt a rethink of sanctions.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz labeled the step wrong and said G7 leaders had urged Washington against easing pressure, as the UK pressed partners to keep maximum economic pressure on Moscow.
- The Kremlin said U.S. and Russian interests have situationally coincided on the waiver for oil currently at sea.