On April 17, 2026, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued Russia‑related General License No. 134B (“GL 134B”), extending the duration of General License No. 134A, which authorized certain transactions involving crude oil and petroleum products of Russian Federation origin that had already been loaded onto vessels.
As with GL 134A, GL 134B authorizes transactions that are ordinarily incident and necessary to the sale, delivery, or offloading of Russian‑origin crude oil or petroleum products. Where GL 134A authorized such transactions provided that the products were loaded onto vessels by March 12, 2026, GL 134B extends the authorization to products loaded onto vessels on or before 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 17, 2026. GL 134B’s authorization is effective through 12:01 a.m. EDT on May 16, 2026 (previously, April 11). The authorization remains temporary and applies only to crude oil or petroleum products that were loaded onto vessels on or before April 17, 2026.
GL 134B also permits a range of ancillary services ordinarily incident and necessary to the completion of authorized voyages, including safe docking and anchoring, crew health and safety, emergency repairs, environmental mitigation, vessel management, bunkering, piloting, insurance, classification, and salvage services. Consistent with its predecessors, GL 134B does not authorize transactions involving persons located in, or organized under the laws of, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, or the Crimea, Donetsk, or Luhansk regions of Ukraine or transactions involving any entity that is owned or controlled by or in a joint venture with any such person. GL 134B does not amend GL 134A’s substantive provisions.
The author acknowledges the assistance of Avi Toltzis in the preparation of this blog post.
