New Delhi: Washington is again extending its sanctions waiver for floating Russian oil, it announced on Monday (May 18), two days after the previous exemption expired and amid reports that India had asked the Trump administration for a renewal as the West Asia crisis disrupts its energy inflows.Treasury is issuing a 30-day ‘general license’ in order to “provide the most vulnerable nations with the ability to temporarily access Russian oil currently stranded at sea”, secretary Scott Bessent wrote on X, adding that Washington would work with these unidentified countries to give specific licenses as required.The move will “also help reroute existing supply to countries most in need by reducing China’s ability to stockpile discounted oil”, he also said.Indian refiners had purchased an unprecedented daily average of 2.3 million barrels of Russian oil in the first half of this month in the lead-up to the previous waiver’s expiry on May 16 US time, Bloomberg had reported. The news agency also wrote at the time that New Delhi had pressed Washington for another extension as the West Asia crisis showed no signs of ending.India has availed the sanctions waiver as 55% of its oil inflows ordinarily transit the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked in retaliation to the US and Israel’s war against it beginning February 28. As the world’s third-largest customer of crude, India relies on imports to meet around 90% of its requirement.It had also become the world’s largest customer of seaborne Russian crude after Western sanctions targeted Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but scaled back imports last year under pressure from the Trump administration. The Hindu‘s T.C.A. Sharad Raghavan has reported that in February, Russia’s share in Indian oil imports stood at 26.5% as against May 2025’s high of 40.2%. West Asia’s share meanwhile had increased to 54.4%.At the inter-ministerial press briefing on the West Asia crisis on Monday and before Bessent’s announcement, joint secretary for marketing and oil refinery in the Union petroleum and natural gas ministry Sujata Sharma told reporters that the US waiver’s expiry would “not affect our supplies”.“I would like to emphasise that we have been purchasing from Russia earlier … before waiver also, during waiver also and now also,” she said.Now that Reliance and Nayara are carrying out maintenance work at their refineries in Gujarat, there is more floating Russian oil available, Bloomberg has reported, writing that globally these number at over seven million barrels.