A Malta-flagged tanker carrying Russian diesel is heading for New York after the fuel deal between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported in an exclusive on 23 October, citing LSEG shipping data. Two weeks earlier, the US Treasury temporarily waived sanctions on Russian diesel.

The tanker is due in the US on 7 November, four days after Americans vote in the midterms. So the first US-bound cargo cannot reach American pumps before the election. Energy analysts also doubt the deal will lower diesel prices meaningfully. US fuel prices rose mainly because the war with Iran disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump, however, has blamed Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries.

Loaded on the day Moscow promised

The medium-sized tanker Agioi Fanendes took on 40,000 metric tons of ultra-low sulfur diesel at the Baltic port of Primorsk on 22 October, shipping data showed. In March, Ukraine’s General Staff said its drones hit the Transneft oil terminal at that same port.

A day before the loading, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced that the first tanker would sail for the US on 22 October. He pledged more shipments and said Russia would meet US needs within its capabilities.

From a pledge to a partial lift

On 9 October, Trump wrote that Russia would immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel “to the American and Global Marketplace.” Another 500,000 tons would follow in November, then 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.”

Moscow had banned diesel exports on 8 July, after Ukrainian drone strikes shut down refineries and caused fuel shortages inside Russia. The Russian government stated on 10 October that it had partially lifted the ban, clearing 500,000 tons for the world market at this stage. Russian diesel shipments to Türkiye and Brazil have since resumed, boosting Moscow’s war revenue.

Trump has made other moves to cut diesel prices before the vote, Reuters reported. He waived parts of a new sanctions law against Russia. He also threatened Europe with a US diesel export ban unless countries released more fuel from their emergency reserves.

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Treasury Department says the reasons for Venezuela’s inclusion no longer exist.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) removed Venezuela from the list of countries subject to restrictions on U.S. investment.

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Established under the 2025 Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act (COINS Act), the list still includes countries such as China, Russia, Cuba, Iran and North Korea.

To justify Venezuela’s removal from the list, the Treasury Department said the reasons that led to the country’s inclusion no longer exist and that the current government does not meet the definition established by the COINS Act.

However, the OFAC announcement included a warning: The rule could still apply to certain investments in Venezuelan entities, although no details were provided.

“The COINS law significantly expanded the scope of U.S. controls on capital flowing abroad. The proposal requires notification in six sectors and five designated countries, and imposes a total ban on artificial intelligence. The public can submit comments through Dec. 7; the final rule will follow,” the financial website PitBullChain explained.

“The key distinction that must not be overlooked is that this is a mechanism for scrutinizing outbound investments. It is not a lifting of the OFAC sanctions regime. Removal from the COINS list does not mean that existing restrictions on specific individuals and entities disappear.”

“Venezuela’s removal from the COINS list can be interpreted as a sign of reduced friction: less friction for a U.S.-based exchange, a payment processor or a small fund to consider operating with Venezuelan counterparties without automatically falling into the category of a country under scrutiny,” the financial website added.

The list of countries included under the COINS Act was originally advanced with bipartisan support. Its goal was to expand oversight of capital flows into sectors considered sensitive to U.S. national security.

Regarding the scope of the policy, Treasury Undersecretary Chris Pilkerton explained that the program’s purpose “is to ensure that we have the ability to monitor and potentially prohibit those types of investments” that could pose risks to U.S. national security.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: PitBullChain – OFAC

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