A Malta-flagged tanker carrying 40,000 metric tonnes of Russian diesel is sailing towards New York following an agreement between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, shipping data showed on Friday.
The vessel, the Agioi Fanendes, loaded a cargo of ultra-low sulphur diesel at the Russian Baltic port of Primorsk on October 22 and is expected to arrive in the United States on November 7, according to LSEG data cited by the Daily Mirror.
Under the agreement, Russia consented to lift a self-imposed ban on diesel exports and to supply fuel to global markets, including the United States, in an effort to bring prices down. Trump said Russia would deliver 300,000 metric tonnes — which he put at 2.25 million barrels — immediately, followed by 500,000 tonnes in November and 1 million tonnes thereafter.
The US president has sought to reduce diesel prices ahead of mid-term elections, waiving sanctions provisions to permit the trade and pressing European governments to release emergency reserves, with the threat of restrictions on European diesel exports if they did not.
The shipment marks a notable redirection of Russian fuel flows. Since the European Union banned imports of Russian oil products in February 2023 over the war in Ukraine, Russia had sold its diesel mainly to Brazil, Turkey and a number of African countries. A cargo bound for a US port is a departure from that pattern.
The conversion Trump cited is internally consistent: 2.25 million barrels across 300,000 tonnes works out at about 7.5 barrels per tonne, close to the standard density for diesel.
For Sri Lanka, which imports all of its refined fuel, the significance lies in the direction of travel. Additional Russian diesel reaching world markets would ease a supply picture that has tightened sharply as attacks on shipping around the Strait of Hormuz push crude higher.
Source: Russian diesel heads to US after Putin-Trump deal, data shows — Daily Mirror, October 23, reporting LSEG shipping data.
