Ship with Russian diesel signals US port after Trump-Putin deal

Bloomberg News on Oct 23, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

A tanker carrying diesel left the Russian port of Primorsk and intermittently signaled New York, potentially marking the first such shipment following a fuel-supply agreement between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

The vessel, hauling almost 43,000 metric tons of ultralow-sulfur diesel, left the Baltic Sea port on Thursday and would arrive in the U.S. on Nov. 7, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That equates to just under 320,000 barrels.

A total of three tankers carrying Russian diesel are currently heading toward the East Coast, Interfax reported late on Friday, citing Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak. The top Russia energy official did not comment on the names of the vessels, according to Interfax.

Most of the volumes will come from the nation’s largest oil producer Rosneft PJSC, Novak said, according to Interfax. Rosneft was sanctioned by the Trump administration last year. Overall, in October, Russian producers are allowed to export a total of 500,000 metric tons of diesel, Novak said.

Trump and Putin struck a deal earlier this month to release Russian diesel into global markets as the White House seeks to tame soaring prices ahead of midterm elections on Nov. 3. The agreement prompted a backlash from some U.S. and European lawmakers, who said it would boost the Kremlin’s coffers for its war in Ukraine and would be too limited to move prices meaningfully anyway.

Earlier this week, Novak flagged Thursday as the start of diesel shipments, providing no details of the buyer or the seller.

It would be the first Russian cargo of refined fuel to reach the U.S. since imports dried up after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Following Trump’s phone call with Putin earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury issued a waiver allowing flows of Russian diesel to the country until next April.

_____

With assistance from Prejula Prem.

_____