Countries will be allowed to buy Russian oil again for 30 days. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Thursday that this measure will affect oil and oil products loaded from Russia starting March 12 and will run until April 11. It serves to stabilize the global energy markets, which are currently under high pressure because of the Iran war.

“The temporary increase in oil prices is a short-term and temporary disruption that will result in massive long-term benefits for our nation and our economy,” Bessent said. He was referring to a post by US President Donald Trump, who claimed that the entire country would benefit from high oil prices.

This could also pay off for end customers: refueling has become slightly cheaper in Germany for the second day in a row. According to the ADAC, premium grade E10 gasoline cost 0.5 cents per liter less, while diesel fell by an average of 0.4 percent per liter on Thursday. Although they were slightly positive again on Friday morning, a new measure by the USA could further ease the pressure on the oil market and thus fuel prices.

Trump eases sanctions: impact on oil prices

The idea behind the sanctions break: New oil that is released onto the market should increase supply and reduce prices on the world market. On Friday morning, the price of Brent crude oil was actually down 0.38 percent. West Texas Intermediate contracts temporarily fell by 0.58 percent.

Importantly, various measures are currently taking place that pursue the same goal. For example, the US had previously issued a similar permit to Indian refineries that had shorted the spot market for Russian oil.

Putin as a war profiteer

The USA was convinced that the Kremlin would not benefit from the measure.

However, it was heard from Moscow that the new exemption would affect around 100 million barrels. For Russia, this means significant additional revenue: Western sanctions have caused the country to have increasing problems selling its oil. This went so far that at the end of 2025, tankers with a total cargo of 185 million barrels were sailing the world’s oceans and were unable to unload their cargo.

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev announced via the Telegram chat service that the growing energy crisis required further easing. This applies despite the resistance of “Brussels bureaucrats”. This would be more than convenient for Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin: Oil is one of Russia’s most important export goods and every increase in price means high revenue for the war chest.

The EU is also considering easing sanctions

What’s problematic for the West in all this is that Ukraine’s allies have worked hard to cut Russia’s energy revenues. Their sanctions have had increasing effects over the past two years, but easing them could undo that. Especially because the USA is apparently considering further steps, and the EU has already decided to withdraw some sanctions thinks.

Countries like Slovakia and Hungary, which have been blocking new sanctions for a long time, could find new arguments here to hinder the EU’s sanctions.

And then there are China and India, which had previously negotiated drastic discounts on Russian oil. They were in a comfortable negotiating position: With the loss of Western buyers, Putin had only two options: either not to sell his oil at all or to sell it cheaper. More expensive Russian oil may lead to permanently higher energy prices in Asian countries if the crisis continues. If the West is already wavering on its own sanctions, these countries will have an easier time explaining why they are no longer following along.