Russia receives daily revenue from oil and gas exports, which amounts to $760 million. The conflict between the US and Iran serves as the primary cause for this situation. The situation worsens because of a White House sanctions waiver, which permits more violations.
Ever since the United States and Israel initiated military action against Iran in early 2026, the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea through which about a fifth of the world's crude oil is channeled, has been in effect throttled.
The threats in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran blocked about 20 per cent of the world's crude production. That supply shock pushed Brent crude, the global benchmark in oil price, to the highest point since 2022, to over 110 per barrel.
When Iran rejected the claims of high-level talks with Washington in late March, the oil prices shot up another 2 percent to hit the record high of over 104 per barrel during the day before returning to a higher level. Prices have kept climbing due to the apprehension of a long-term war.
Buyers were rushing to supply as Iranian barrels were going off the market, with the Gulf transit routes being in a state of turmoil. Russia was the country that would fill in that gap. The average earnings of Russian crude oil exports increased by 26 percent in the first two weeks of war alone to a rate of 230 million dollars a day in crude oil alone.
Combining both the revenues of oil and gas, the total daily earnings were at least 760 million. During the same period of two weeks, Russia also sold an extra 672 million euros or about $777 million of oil in comparison with the level during pre-war times.
US Sanctions Waiver Unlocks 100 Million Barrels of Russian Crude
Price was not the only factor that stimulated the revenue spurt. One of the decisions by the US government directly increased the quantity of Russian oil that could be sold to buyers.
The Trump administration passed a 30-day waiver of sanctions allowing nations to buy Russian crude that was stuck at sea. The waiver was over 100 million barrels of Russian crude that was in tankers that failed to transact due to the current sanctions, according to a number of media reports. About 30 tankers of such cargo were anchored in the Asian waters. The Iranian oil sales were granted an additional 30-day waiver by the administration, which expired on March 20-April 19.
Washington described the Russian waiver as a stabilization step in the market, which was to counter the lost supply due to the Hormuz disruption. The waiver by the US Treasury Secretary has been argued to lower the revenue of Russia instead of raising it. The reasoning, as explained by the Treasury Department, is the flooding of the market with stranded Russian barrels, forcing prices down and cutting profits per barrel. Independent energy economists have not verified that position.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose nation has been at war with Russia since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, disowned that framing directly. The local reports reveal that Zelenskyy stated that the waiver on Russian oil sanctions of 30 days was not the correct decision. Kyiv has repeatedly claimed that any weakening of energy sanctions against Moscow will be interpreted as more money being spent by Russia on its military operation.
Also Read: Suspicious "Zombie Ships" Choke Strait of Hormuz as Iran Restricts 150 Vessels on Key Oil Route
Russia's Export Capacity Faces Headwinds Even as Prices Rise
The windfall comes on the background of severe destruction of the Russian export infrastructure. According to Ukrainian News Network, citing Reuters, at least 40 percent of the oil export capacity of Russia is stopped because of the attacks on ports and pipelines. Such a figure, assuming it is accurate, implies that Moscow is achieving high prices on a smaller physical throughput and that the per-barrel earnings will be of significant consequence to the total revenue.
The energy dislocation in the world has given rise to the secondary ripple effects outside of Russia. A continuous high fuel price can hasten the process of electric vehicle adoption, especially in China, where local manufacturers will gain as well, since consumers and fleet operators will seek alternatives to high gasoline prices. Such a dynamic, were it to come up, would have a slowing effect on the long-term demand base on which Russian export revenues ultimately depend.
In the short term, the arithmetic is in favor of Moscow. It is a battle of restraint, a war instigated by Washington to limit Iranian influence, which, by a mix of price mechanisms and sanctions policy, has provided the United States with permanent revenue enhancement, against a government that the US has attempted to isolate economically in four years. The two governments have strongly divergent opinions as to whether the waiver is beneficial or detrimental to Russia financially.
