Moscow, March 13 (QNA) - Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said today that the United States’ decision to waive some restrictions on Russian oil would apply to about 100 million barrels of oil that had already been loaded onto vessels.

In a post on his Telegram channel, Dmitriev said that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had announced not only the easing of restrictions on India regarding purchases of Russian oil but also the lifting of all restrictions on roughly 100 million barrels of Russian oil that were still on their way to markets.

He added that easing restrictions on Russian energy products appeared increasingly inevitable in light of the worsening global energy crisis, despite opposition from some officials in the European Union.

The Russian official said that by lifting restrictions on Russian oil, the United States was effectively acknowledging that the global energy market cannot remain stable without Russian oil.

The United States said it issued a temporary license allowing the sale and delivery of Russian crude oil and petroleum products that had already been loaded onto ships, in a move aimed at expanding supply in global energy markets and helping stabilize prices.

The US Department of the Treasury said in a statement yesterday that the license allows the necessary transactions to sell, deliver, or unload crude oil and petroleum products of Russian origin loaded onto vessels starting Mar. 12, with the authorization remaining in effect until April 11.

The license was issued one day after the US Department of Energy announced the release of 172 million barrels from the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to curb the sharp rise in crude prices, as part of a broader move by the International Energy Agency, which includes 32 countries, to release about 400 million barrels of oil into global markets to boost supply. (QNA)