- US plans to lift sanctions on Iranian oil to ease rising energy prices
- Iranian oil supplies of about 140 million barrels are currently afloat near Strait of Hormuz
- Sanctioned Iranian oil mainly headed to China but could flow to other Asian countries
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US is looking to lift sanctions that it has long imposed on Iranian oil in an effort to ease the spike in energy prices triggered by its war in the Gulf, and could also look at a unilateral release of its own reserves.
“In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that's on the water,” Bessent said on Fox Business Thursday. The US is already allowing Iranian oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and that nation has about 140 million barrels afloat now, the Treasury chief said. “Depending on how you count it, that's 10 days to two weeks of supply.”
Iran's supplies have mainly been heading to China up to now, but once sanctions are eased, that can then go elsewhere, Bessent said. “It can flow into Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, India — who have been good actors in this.”
“We will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days as we continue this campaign,” Bessent said.
By the time the US takes action on Iran's floating oil, there will have been “about 260 million excess barrels of energy” created, Bessent said — pointing to also to the release of reserves of oil by a number of countries.
Kharg Island
“The US could unilaterally do another SPR release to keep the price down,” he also said, referring to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Bessent noted that there had been some speculation the US Treasury would intervene in the oil futures market, but “we're absolutely not doing that.”
“We are not going to do a financial market intervention,” he also said. “We're not intervening in the financial markets. We are supplying the physical markets.”
The US hasn't been targeting Iran's energy assets in the war, he said. With regard to Kharg Island, a key Iranian export hub, it mounted a “precision strike” against the military assets.
“The other thing I can tell you, if you're an oil worker, you don't want to work there,” Bessent said. “We will see what happens with whether that eventually becomes a US asset.”
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