US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Washington is allowing India to refine stranded Russian oil at sea as a short-term measure to stabilize global supply and ease price pressure amid West Asia tensions.
The United States has said it is “allowing our friends in India” to refine Russian oil already stranded at sea around southern Asia in a short-term effort to stabilise global energy supplies amid tensions in West Asia.
“We have implemented short-term measures to help keep oil prices down. We are allowing our friends in India to take oil that is already on ships, refine it, and move those barrels into the market quickly. A practical way to get supply flowing and ease pressure,” US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.
Speaking in an interview with ABC News Live, Wright said the move is a temporary step aimed at ensuring adequate supply in the global oil market at a time when shipping disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz are raising concerns.
In an interview with ABC News Live, Wright said that long-term oil supplies are “abundant” and there are no worries regarding that, but in the short term, there is a need to get oil on the market.
Wright emphasised that global oil supplies remain strong in the long run, but the immediate challenge is ensuring that enough oil reaches the market. “Long-term oil supplies are abundant and we are not worried about that. But in the short term, we need to get oil onto the market,” he said.
Wright explained that several shipments of Russian oil have been sitting in floating storage around southern Asia after Chinese buyers slowed purchases.
“But as oil gets bid up a little bit because of those constraints coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, we’re taking a short-term action to say all this floating Russian oil storage that’s around southern Asia, it’s China just backed up, China does not treat their suppliers well, so there’s a bunch of floating barrels just sitting there.
“There’s a bunch of floating barrels just sitting there. We’ve reached out to our friends in India and said, ‘Buy that oil. Bring it into your refineries,’” he said. That pulls stored oil immediately into Indian refineries and releases the pressure on other refineries around the world to buy oil that they’re no longer competing with the Indians for in that marketplace,” Wright said.
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The US official stressed that the decision does not represent a shift in Washington’s broader policy toward Moscow.
“So we have a number of measures like that that are short-term and temporary. This is no change in policy towards Russia. This is a very brief change in policy just to keep oil prices down a little bit better than we could otherwise,” he added.
On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington had issued a temporary 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil already stranded at sea.
Bessent said the measure was deliberately short-term and would not significantly benefit the Russian government.
“India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of US oil,” Bessent said. He added that the waiver would help stabilise energy markets during a period of heightened geopolitical tension. “This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage,” he said.
The move comes after tensions in West Asia raised concerns about possible disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil shipments.
The decision also follows recent trade developments between Washington and New Delhi. Last month, the two countries announced a framework for an interim trade agreement, after US President Donald Trump removed earlier punitive tariffs imposed on India over its purchases of Russian oil.
