March 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury Department issued a 30-day license temporarily allowing Russian oil already loaded onto sanctioned tankers to be sold in the international market as part of an effort to ease an acute supply disruption due to the war with Iran.
The Trump administration is banking that the general license permitting Russia to begin selling the estimated 128 million oil barrels will calm a volatile global energy market that saw futures for the benchmark Brent crude end Thursday above $100 for the first time in four years.
"To increase the global reach of existing supply, the U.S. Treasury is providing a temporary authorization to permit countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Thursday night.
Bessent conceded that the supply disruption was actually "a massive benefit to our nation and economy in the long-term," referencing the fact that, as the world's largest oil producer, higher prices are a net gain for the United States, if not U.S. consumers faced with higher gas prices.
However, being able to shift oil stranded at sea will provide a massive windfall for Russia's war chest, already netting around $150 million a day from selling more expensive oil and more of it since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, according to experts.
