First Tanker Of Putin’s Diesel Heads For New York As Prices Top $6 A Gallon
A tanker of Russian diesel is headed for New York, the first U.S.-bound cargo under President Donald Trump's deal with Russia.
Simon August · Oct 23, 2026 · 4 min read
A tanker of Russian diesel is headed for New York, the first U.S.-bound cargo under President Donald Trump’s deal with Russia.
The Malta-flagged tanker Agioi Fanendes took on 40,000 metric tons of diesel Thursday at Primorsk, a Russian port on the Baltic Sea, and is due in the U.S. Nov. 7, Reuters reported Friday, citing shipping data from the London Stock Exchange Group. Diesel averaged $6.32 a gallon nationally Friday, up from $3.63 a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association.
“Additional diesel supply is welcome news for farmers, truckers, and families getting hammered at the pump, but one tanker isn’t going to solve our diesel supply problems,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement.
The cargo holds almost 300,000 barrels, while Americans use about 3.6 million barrels of diesel a day, Max Pyziur, research director for refining and fuels, natural gas and electricity projects at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, said in a statement to the DCNF.
“So, in that context, a 300 KB [thousand barrel] shipment is minute and won’t swing either prices or inventories,” Pyziur said.
Trump wrote on Truth Social Oct. 9 that Russia would “immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace,” with 500,000 more tons coming in November and one million tons after that.
A bipartisan group of senators, including Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, said Oct. 11 that the imports run counter to a 2022 law banning Russian energy imports.
The offices of Collins, Tillis and Shaheen did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Friday that the first tanker sent under the agreement had left port but did not say whether it was headed for the U.S. The identities of the buyer and seller were not immediately known, Reuters reported.