Russia's Oil Revenues Surge As The World Scrambles For Supply

Authored by Felicity Bradstock via oilprice.com,

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, several major world powers introduced strict sanctions on trade with Moscow. Europe and the United States have been gradually decreasing their dependence on Russian gas and other energy products and putting pressure on other countries to do the same, to place a financial strain on Moscow, as the war with Ukraine continues. However, some countries, such as India and China, have used these sanctions as an excuse to buy discounted crude and gas from Russia, in a bid to reduce costs and boost energy security. 

Imports of Russian crude to China and India have increased significantly since 2022. In 2024, China bought a record of more than 100 million tonnes of Russian oil, which contributed nearly 20 percent of its energy imports. Meanwhile, India spent an estimated $140 billion on Russian energy imports. Over the last year, both Asian countries deepened their ties with Moscow following the imposition of high tariffs on imports by the United States. 

Although several countries have decreased their dependence on Russian energy since the invasion of Ukraine, shifting dependence to alternative energy sources, some have been forced to turn back to Russia in the wake of the “largest oil disruption in history”. Even the United States, the main advocate for the imposition of strict sanctions on Russian energy, appears to have changed its tune in recent weeks.

On 16th April, the U.S. Treasury Department extended a sanctions exemption on the sale of some Russian crude, which is expected to be in effect until May 16. This follows a previous sanctions waiver on Russia, which expired on April 11. The move by the Trump administration to ease sanctions is in response to the strain placed on the global energy market following the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran in February and subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz. 

The move is expected to decrease the cost of oil as countries are permitted to legally purchase hundreds of millions of barrels of crude from Russia. A spokeswoman from the U.S. Treasury said: “As negotiations accelerate, Treasury wants to ensure all oil is available to those who need it.”

In recent weeks, it has remained unclear if the Strait of Hormuz will be fully opened again or whether it will remain under threat of attack. On April 10th, Iran reopened the Strait to all commercial ships before closing it once again less than 24 hours later, citing the ongoing U.S. blockade on Iranian ports as the cause.

As the trade outlook in the Middle East remains uncertain, Russian sales of crude to India are expected to remain near record highs in April and May, largely owing to the latest U.S. sanctions waiver. The finances earned from the sale of Russian oil could help Moscow fund its military spending for the war in Ukraine.

India shipped around 2.25 million bpd of Russian crude in March, marking an increase of almost 100 percent compared to February volumes. Russian crude arrivals in Indian ports were expected to reach 2.1 million bpd for the week of April 20 to 27, an increase from 1.67 million bpd the previous week.

The ongoing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has led India and China to compete for global oil supplies, mainly from Russia, as well as Saudi Arabia. “The competition for Russian crude between India and China has been intense and will continue to be so for June-loading cargoes,” a senior analyst at Kpler, Muyu Xu, told CNBC. “The de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz is prompting Asian countries to seek cheap crude that is readily available, and Russian crude falls into this category,” added Xu.

Before the War in Iran, China was importing vast quantities of Iranian crude. However, the conflict has caused major disruptions to energy trade as well as led to the destruction of energy infrastructure across the Middle East. This has led China to rely more heavily on Russia for its oil supplies.

It is not just China and India that are turning to Russian energy, as, in April, Indonesia announced plans to buy up to 150 million barrels of oil from Russia. Roughly 20 to 25 percent of Indonesia’s oil imports typically come from the Middle East and traverse the Strait of Hormuz. “Indonesia has now secured a commitment from the Russian government. We can store 150 million barrels in Indonesia to address economic volatility issues,” the Antara state news agency quoted President Prabowo Subianto’s brother Hashim as saying. 

The ongoing Middle East conflict continues to drive up energy prices due to the severe energy trade disruptions, caused largely by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This has led many governments to seek alternative energy sources to ensure their energy security for the coming months. The temporary waiver for sanctions on the import of Russian energy is expected to drive up oil and gas trade significantly in the coming months, which could result in more money being channelled into Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine – the exact thing that the United States and Europe were originally trying to avoid by introducing sanctions.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/04/2026 - 03:30

Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized In Critical Condition

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been hospitalized and is in critical condition, according to The New York Times, citing his spokesman, Ted Goodman.

"Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he's fighting with that same level of strength as we speak," Goodman said, before asking "that you join us in prayer" for the former NYC mayor.

Goodman did not disclose what medical emergency sent Giuliani to a Florida hospital Sunday afternoon.

President Trump also released a statement on Giuliani's medical emergency, telling those on Truth Social, "Our fabulous Rudy Giuliani, a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR, has been hospitalized, and is in critical condition."

"What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated in the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did everything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!" the president said.

Giuliani is a former federal prosecutor, NYC mayor, and longtime Trump supporter.

He first rose to national prominence as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in the 1980s, where he prosecuted organized crime, Wall Street corruption, drug trafficking, and public corruption.

One of his most defining legal wins was helping break the power grip of NY's Mafia families through RICO prosecutions.

From the mid-1990s through 2001, Giuliani served as mayor of NYC, where his administration became known for its tough-on-crime posture. He later ran unsuccessfully for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination before re-emerging as a major political figure and Donald Trump's personal attorney, particularly during the Russia hoax investigation and the post-2020 election fight.

*This is a developing story.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/03/2026 - 19:44

Jane Street Paid Employees $9.4 Billion, Twice What It Paid Last Year, After Record 2025 Results

Jane Street Group has evolved from a niche trading shop into one of Wall Street’s most profitable firms and employees are reaping the rewards. The firm paid roughly $9.4 billion in compensation last year, more than twice what it distributed a year earlier, according to Bloomberg.

On average, that translated to about $2.7 million per employee, far ahead of traditional banks like Goldman Sachs. The massive payouts followed a record year in which Jane Street generated nearly $40 billion in trading revenue, outpacing major banks and rivals in the market-making business.

Bloomberg writes that the firm started in 2000 trading American depositary receipts before expanding into ETFs and other electronically traded assets. As more markets became automated, Jane Street scaled aggressively and now handles trading across equities, bonds, ETFs, and other products.

Its financial resources have grown just as dramatically. The firm’s internal capital base has climbed to roughly $45 billion, up nearly twentyfold over the past decade, giving it significant flexibility to capitalize on market swings without relying heavily on outside funding. It has also raised additional cash through debt markets.

That war chest has allowed Jane Street to move beyond day-to-day trading. The firm has built positions in high-growth tech companies, including Anthropic, and has also backed CoreWeave while exploring deals involving Fluidstack.

Jane Street also operates differently from most major financial firms. It doesn’t have a traditional CEO hierarchy and is instead overseen by a group of partners. The firm is well known for recruiting mathematicians, engineers, and problem-solvers to sharpen its trading systems.

Despite regulatory and legal challenges — including scrutiny in India and litigation tied to the collapse of Terraform Labs — Jane Street continues to widen its lead. It outperformed Citadel Securities last year and is continuing to expand, including plans for a larger office in London.

Recall, we wrote just days ago that Jane Street reeled in a Wall Street record $39.6 billion of trading revenue last year, more than any Wall Street bank. According to the report, the firm beat out all global investment banks after reaping $15.5 billion in the year’s final quarter, and with only 3,500 employees, it beat nearest rival JPMorgan by 11% during the year. The company's adjusted ETBIDA for the full year was a stunning $31.2 billion. 

While Jane Street’s profits were lifted by surging valuations of its stakes in privately held companies, the firm’s main business matching buyers and sellers across assets thrived on bouts of market volatility. The new annual record - which includes gains on long-term investments - shows "how the balance of power has shifted in one of the most lucrative arenas of global finance."

While it has kept a remarkable low profile, its recent public appearances have been less than laudatory: The company's record haul is confirmation that Jane Street, long known for its secrecy, was able to keep growing after getting thrust into the spotlight in mid-2025 when authorities in India accused of manipulating markets while running what had once been one of the firm’s most lucrative trading strategies.

Jane Street has denied those allegations and is fighting them in court. In February, Jane Street was sued by the bankrupt Terraform Labs estate, accusing it of engaging in insider trading that precipitated the $40 billion crash of cryptocurrencies associated with Terraform; this week the HFT firm also urged a judge to throw out that lawsuit.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/03/2026 - 19:15

Jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Winner Hospitalized In Critical Condition

Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent Iranian human rights activist, remains in critical condition in a hospital in Zanjan, northwestern Iran, after collapsing in prison last week with severe cardiac distress. She was transferred by ambulance to the local hospital’s coronary care unit on Friday, May 1, 2026, following repeated episodes of loss of consciousness, extreme chest pain, and blood pressure fluctuations, the NY Times reports.

Narges Mohammadi poses in an undated photo provided by her family. The Nobel laureate has suffered from heart ailments for years, according to her family. Credit...Mohammadi family

Her family and lawyer have urgently called for her transfer to a specialized facility in Tehran, where her longtime cardiologist could provide care, but Iranian judicial authorities have refused the requests. The Narges Foundation and her husband, Taghi Rahmani, who lives in exile in Paris with their children, stated that her life is in danger and described the move to the Zanjan hospital as a “last-minute” response after prison doctors determined her condition could no longer be managed on-site.

“We are extremely worried about her; she has collapsed and lost consciousness several times, and her life is in danger,” Rahmani said in an interview. “Our request is basic and urgent: send her to a hospital in Tehran immediately.” Her lawyer, Mostafa Nili, confirmed on social media that she had experienced acute cardiac crisis symptoms in recent days and was initially reluctant to go to the Zanjan facility due to her medical history, which includes multiple angiographies and stent placements.

Mohammadi, 54, has long suffered from chronic heart problems, a prior lung embolism (pulmonary embolism), and persistent headaches linked to ill-treatment in prison, including beatings by guards, according to her family and legal team. Prison authorities have repeatedly denied her adequate medical care in the past, opting instead for treatment in rudimentary prison clinics despite medical recommendations for specialized care.

This latest emergency follows a suspected heart attack in late March 2026, when she was found unconscious in her cell in Zanjan Prison on March 24. Fellow inmates reported she lay with her eyes rolled back for over an hour. Despite clear signs of cardiac distress, authorities refused hospital transfer or specialist evaluation at the time, according to reports from her legal team and visits documented by human rights groups.

She has spent much of her adult life imprisoned for her pro-democracy and women’s rights activism in Iran’s theocratic system. She was previously serving a sentence that included approximately 10 years on national security charges. In February 2026, a court added seven and a half more years—six years for “assembly and collusion against national security” and one and a half years for “propaganda activities”—along with a two-year internal exile and travel ban, bringing her total sentence to around 17–18 years, according to her foundation and lawyers.

She had been granted a yearlong medical furlough in December 2024 due to her deteriorating health but was rearrested on December 12, 2025, while attending a memorial service in Mashhad for slain human rights lawyer Khosro Alikordi. She delivered a speech critical of the government and was violently detained along with other activists. She was subsequently transferred to the more restrictive Zanjan Prison, far from her family in Tehran.

In 2023, while imprisoned, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.” The award highlighted her decades of work documenting executions, advocating against compulsory hijab laws, and supporting political prisoners.

Her current hospitalization occurs against a backdrop of intensified repression in Iran. Following nationwide anti-government protests in January 2026 and the escalation of conflict involving the United States and Israel that began in late February 2026, authorities have ramped up arrests of activists, journalists, and students. Human rights monitors report that Iran has carried out at least 22 executions of political prisoners in the past six weeks (mid-March to late April 2026), with at least 10 linked to the January protests. Dozens more face imminent risk of execution.

On April 30, 2026 (Thursday), 21-year-old Sasan Azadvar Junaqani (also spelled Jonaghani or Joonqani), a karate athlete from Isfahan, was executed in Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan. Arrested during the January protests and accused of throwing a stone at security forces and other protest-related acts, he was convicted of “moharebeh” (enmity against God) in a swift Revolutionary Court proceeding widely criticized by rights groups as a sham trial lacking due process. Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and HRANA documented the case as one of at least 10 protester executions tied to the recent demonstrations.

Omid Memarian, a senior fellow and Iran expert at the Washington, D.C.-based Dawn think tank focused on U.S. foreign policy, described the pattern as part of a broader campaign of intimidation enabled by the wartime environment.

“The wartime security environment has significantly increased the risks of activism in Iran, giving the government a broader pretext to use violence and making the level of repression, outside peak protest moments, considerably harsher than before the war,” Memarian said.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations declined to comment on Ms. Mohammadi’s health situation. Her family, the Narges Foundation, and international observers continue to demand her immediate transfer to Tehran for proper medical treatment and have expressed fears that delays could prove fatal. As of Saturday, May 2, and into Sunday, May 3, she remained in unstable condition in the Zanjan hospital’s intensive care unit, receiving oxygen support amid ongoing concerns from relatives and rights advocates.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/03/2026 - 18:05