US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has announced that the United States has reached out to India to purchase Russian oil shipments currently stranded at sea. The move is described as a temporary measure to ease pressure on global energy markets following Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
In an interview with ABC News, Wright explained that several shipments of Russian crude are floating in storage, and diverting them to Indian refineries would help stabilize oil prices while global supply chains face strain. “So 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.”
The announcement follows a 30-day waiver granted to India by the United States, allowing it to buy Russian oil shipments currently stranded at sea. Wright emphasized that this is a short-term market intervention and does not signal a broader shift in Washington’s policy toward Russia. “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.
The global energy market has been shaken following Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz after US and Israeli strikes prompted retaliatory measures. The strait, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, handles a significant portion of global oil and gas exports. The disruption has paralyzed shipping through the waterway and raised concerns over potential supply shortages, pushing oil prices higher in Asian markets.
Wright, however, expressed confidence that the price surge is temporary. In a separate interview with Fox News, he said, “This will definitely be temporary. We have the world just massively well-supplied, abundant oil around the world, and American production at record highs. So we’ll get through this — it’ll be a bump in the road.”
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has pledged to provide insurance guarantees and naval escorts for ships exporting energy from the region to contain soaring transportation costs and ensure the continued flow of supplies.
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