On 19 May 2026, the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT), acting through the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI), signed and published two general trade licences (the liquefied natural gas (LNG) Licence and the Processed Oil Products Licence, together the Licences) under regulation 65 of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the Russia Regulations).
Both instruments entered into force on 20 May 2026. The Licences disapply, in carefully calibrated terms, two of the most recent prohibitions inserted into the Russia Regulations: the Chapter 4LA services ban on Russian LNG and the Chapter 4IB import-and-dealing ban on petroleum products refined in third countries from Russian-origin crude. Their practical effect is to keep two operationally critical flows of Russian-linked energy lawful for UK persons, Sakhalin-2 and Yamal LNG cargoes on short contracts, and diesel and kerosene-type jet fuel processed from Russian crude by third-country refiners, while leaving the headline prohibitions in force for everything else.
