The US on Thursday extended a sanctions waiver on Russian oil giant Lukoil, allowing its service operations outside the country to continue until April 2027, the Treasury Department announced.
Under the new general licence, Lukoil petrol stations will be able to serve customers until April 25, 2027. This includes petrol stations in the US, the department said. The waiver replaces a previous licence that was set to expire this month.
The licence prohibits the “transfer of funds to any person or account located in the Russian Federation”, it reads. It also excludes transactions involving Russia's central bank, its national wealth fund and the Ministry of Finance.
In a separate licence, the Treasury Department also authorised certain transactions for Lukoil Bulgaria's firms in the same time period.
The decision comes a week after US President Donald Trump said he had reached a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin that would allow Russia to supply diesel to the US and the global markets. The agreement deepened a rift between the US and its European partners, including Ukraine, and within Mr Trump's Republican Party.
Mr Trump said Russia would immediately release 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global markets, with another 500,000 tonnes released in November and a million tonnes “immediately thereafter”.
He also said Russia would release three million tonnes of fuel “within a short period of time” depending on the condition of the country's diesel refineries.
Oil prices remain high during the seven-month Iran war, as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is significantly well below its prewar levels and as Iranian attacks continue in the waterway.
Futures for Brent global benchmark crude fell 0.27 per cent to settle at $105.8 a barrel on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate futures gaining 2.76 per cent at $97.71 a barrel.
Diesel prices also remained elevated at $6.31 a gallon, compared to the average of $3.65 a gallon at the same time last year.
The International Energy Agency's governing board on Thursday said it would quicken the release of more than 20 million barrels of diesel and the remaining volumes of the 400 million barrels of emergency stocks of crude and other oil products previously agreed to in March.
The IEA said on Wednesday it expects oil market balances to remain in a deficit well into 2027.
“As the remaining buffers in the system continue to erode, in the absence of a resolution to the conflicts in the Middle East, oil markets may experience more turmoil in the months ahead before any eventual surplus emerges in 2027,” it said.