General License 134C

General License 134C was the third consecutive 30-day OFAC bridge waiver in the GL 134 series, signed by OFAC Director Bradley T. Smith at 14:05 EDT on 18 May 2026. It authorised third-country completion of purchases of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products loaded on or before 17 April 2026. It reinstated the full vessel-services umbrella covering insurance, crewing, bunkering, piloting, classification, and salvage. Paragraph (b)(1) carved out Cuba, Iran, DPRK, and occupied-Ukraine territory entirely. GL 134A expired 11 April; GL 134B lapsed on 16 May without renewal before GL 134C reversed the Treasury statement that had appeared to rule out a successor. GL 134C lapsed clean at 12:01 EDT on 17 June 2026 with no GL 134D successor issued. The vessel-services umbrella for Russian seaborne crude is now off. OFAC's last Russia-related action after the lapse was the 11 June issuance of GL 55F (Sakhalin-2 gas services) and GL 115D (civil nuclear) only, confirming a deliberate separation: energy-security dependencies extended, crude vessel services allowed to expire.

GL 134C lapsed clean at 12:01 EDT on 17 June 2026 with no successor instrument. The vessel-services umbrella covering insurance, crewing, bunkering, classification, and salvage is now off Russian seaborne crude. Western P&I clubs and classification societies carry the secondary-liability exposure on Russian crude cargoes outside narrow wind-down provisions. The clean lapse is a deliberate policy signal: OFAC issued GL 55F (Sakhalin-2) and GL 115D (civil nuclear) on 11 June but allowed the crude track to expire, separating energy-security dependencies from the crude-revenue channel. President Trump signalled at the Evian G7 (15-17 June) that Russia oil sanctions would tighten further "soon" once Hormuz normalisation gave room to do so. The prior effect of GL 134C on Baltic Aframax routes (TD7/TD19) was to ease the compliance bid premium off compliant freight; its lapse now loads the inverse risk: shadow-fleet freight rates are expected to diverge upward from compliant-fleet equivalents as P&I cover becomes unavailable for unsanctioned Russian cargoes.

GL 134C was the primary instrument keeping Russian export revenue flowing during the G7 price-cap review window, with Urals FOB at roughly $76/BBL against the revised $47.60 cap. Russia's oil and gas revenue jumped 32.4% year-on-year in May 2026 to 678.9bn rubles, driven partly by Hormuz-disruption price spikes; Urals had fallen back to $87.40 by 4 June. GL 134C lapsed clean on 17 June 2026 with no successor issued, removing the US legal cover that had kept Western vessel services available for Russian-origin seaborne crude. The EU's 21st sanctions package simultaneously moved to freeze the oil price cap at $44.10 through January 2027, blocking the July formula review from auto-lifting the ceiling toward ~$75. The licence explicitly excluded Crimea-based entities, preserving targeted sanctions architecture around the peninsula. By 13 July 2026, 26 days had passed since the clean lapse with still no GL 134D issued. OFAC has made no further statement on the matter: the sustained absence of a successor is itself the signal, not a fresh Treasury announcement or decision.

By 23 July 2026, 36 days had passed since the clean lapse, the longest gap yet in the GL 134 bridge-waiver history, with still no GL 134D and no public OFAC statement on the matter. The same day, all 27 EU member states finally approved the bloc's 21st sanctions package after Slovakia dropped a hold-out tied to a 2028 gas phase-out guarantee, formally locking in the price-cap freeze that the licence gap has increasingly made moot: with the vessel-services umbrella off Russian seaborne crude regardless of the cap level, market appetite for shadow-fleet cargo, not an enforceable ceiling, is now setting Urals' price.