Three weeks ago, President Trump placed sanctions on Russian oil to end Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, and the effects of the sanctions are already starting to hurt the European country.
The economic penalties target Russia’s two largest oil companies, Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company and Lukoil OAO, as well as their subsidiaries. According to ABC News, President Trump had explained, “Today is a very big day in terms of what we’re doing. These are tremendous sanctions. These are very big.” He added, “They’re against their two big oil companies, and we hope that they won’t be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled.”
ABC News reported that at the time the sanctions were placed, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, “Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war. We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”
Rosneft and Lukoil are two of the world’s biggest energy companies and export around 3.1 million barrels of oil per day. Since the sanctions dropped, Breitbart reported that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has recorded a drop in Russian oil export revenue of over $13 billion between October and November.
Russian news agency TASS even confirmed the IEA statistics and reported that Russia’s exports of oil and petroleum products fell by 2% in October 2025 month-on-month to 7.35 mln barrels per day (mbd),” while “revenues from export supplies lost 2.81% to $13.13 bln,” according to Breitbart.
“Compared to last October, Russia’s revenues from oil exports were $2 bln lower,” TASS added.
The Russian news outlet attempted to claim that the sanctions have had a significant impact on the stability of global energy markets, but Breitbart reports that the sanctions are primarily affecting the stability of Lukoil. In response to the sanctions, the oil company announced that it would sell many of its major global assets.