Trump Announces Immediate Supply of More Than 300 Thousand Tonnes of Russian Diesel
Key Facts
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday, October 9, that Russia would immediately supply more than 300 thousand tonnes of diesel under a plan for deliveries in stages, according to the Associated Press. The announcement came as the average U.S. diesel price reached about $6.28 a gallon, the agency reported, citing the American Automobile Association. The average was about $3.68 a gallon during the same period a year earlier. The cost of the fuel is linked to goods transport prices because freight and delivery networks rely on it, according to the Associated Press. That places the rise in diesel prices among the costs of moving and delivering goods, alongside the burden borne directly by fuel buyers.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued Russia-related General License No. 135 to authorize transactions in Russian diesel. The authorization covers the sale and delivery of the fuel, according to the license issued alongside the announcement of the agreement. The text also permits the unloading and import of diesel cargoes, including into the United States. The U.S. measure temporarily authorizes these transactions rather than broadly lifting sanctions on Russia's energy sector. Under the text, the authorization covers dealings in diesel from sale through delivery, unloading and import.
Diesel futures fell following news of the agreement on Friday, according to the Associated Press, in a market response to the announcement of the expected Russian supplies. But Daniel Sternoff, a fellow at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, told the agency the additional volumes "will not lower prices significantly." On the Russian supply side, energy expert Clayton Seigle linked the move to Moscow's need to offload diesel intended for summer use. Seigle said Russia was seeking to dispose of this type of fuel, according to the Associated Press. He explained that it would need winter and Arctic diesel grades in the coming months.
Russia had moved in July to ban diesel exports, according to the Associated Press's account of the fuel crisis. That move came amid Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries, the agency said. Objecting to the U.S. decision, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the easing of sanctions and authorization of Russian diesel exports as "unfair and dishonest" in an interview with Axios. He said he would have supported easing energy sanctions had it been part of an agreement to halt attacks on energy facilities. Zelensky specified that the agreement he would have supported would have halted those attacks in Ukraine and Russia during the winter.
Under details of the supply plan announced by Trump and reported by the Associated Press, the next stage includes an additional 500 thousand tonnes in November. The U.S. president said another million tonnes would arrive "immediately after that," following the November shipment. He added, according to Axios, that Russia would supply another 3 million tonnes "within a short period." When the Associated Press report was published, the White House had not answered questions about who would pay for the Russian diesel. Nor had it answered when the fuel would become available, despite Trump's announcement of the volumes and sequence of the expected deliveries.
The supply announcement came ahead of the U.S. midterm elections scheduled for November 3, according to the Associated Press. It followed a domestic measure, Executive Order No. 14435, dated October 5, 2026. The order was titled "Emergency Tax Relief on Diesel Fuel," according to the text published in the Federal Register. It calls for implementing guidance specifying the actual exemptions granted under it. The U.S. authorization for transactions in Russian diesel expires at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on April 7, 2027, according to the Treasury license.