Washington has granted New Delhi a brief waiver for stranded Russian crude – but expects it to ramp up American oil purchases in return
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenBiman MukherjiPublished: 6:00pm, 9 Mar 2026India received some welcome news last week about its energy supply: it had been granted permission, by the United States, to take delivery of oil it had already bought.The tankers were already at sea – Russian crude, loaded and paid for, stranded in limbo by the disruptions sweeping out of the war on Iran.They needed a waiver, which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Thursday: a 30-day exemption allowing Indian refiners to receive the cargoes before American sanctions expired.
For a country that imports roughly 90 per cent of the crude oil it needs, the exemption offered a measure of relief. Yet it also showed how far Washington’s reach extends into New Delhi’s energy decisions.
India and Russia are sovereign states, and their bilateral energy trade does not fall under US jurisdictionAjay Srivastava, ex-trade negotiator“India and Russia are sovereign states, and their bilateral energy trade does not fall under US jurisdiction,” said former Indian trade negotiator Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative, a Delhi-based think tank.
