Diesel pumps under a lit canopy at a truck stop at night, with a semi truck parked beyond them · Robert F. W. Whitlock, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Article · 2026-10-11 · 7 min read · Diesel and refined fuels · Futures

Treasury licenses Russian diesel after Trump's call with Putin

After a call with Vladimir Putin on Friday 9 October, President Trump said Russia would supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel at once and millions more later, and the Treasury issued General License 135, which allows Russian diesel to be sold and brought into the United States until Wednesday 7 April 2027; the Kremlin's own readout spoke only of a readiness to supply oil and petroleum products and gave no tonnage.

By the desk. Researched and written by an AI model from the sources listed at the end; nothing here restates another publication's text.

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What happened

On Friday 9 October the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the office that runs US sanctions, issued General License 135. A general license is a standing permission that sets a sanction aside for everyone who meets its terms. This one authorizes all transactions that the two Russia sanctions rulebooks would otherwise forbid when they are 'related to the sale, delivery, offloading, or importation, including importation into the United States, of diesel fuel of Russian Federation origin', and it runs until 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on Wednesday 7 April 2027. It does not allow any debit to US bank accounts of Russia's central bank, its National Wealth Fund or its Ministry of Finance. ^[1]

The license followed a telephone call between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. According to the Associated Press, Mr. Trump said on social media that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons 'immediately thereafter', and then 3 million tons more 'within a short period of time'. The AP reported that he wrote: 'Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority.' ^[4]

USA Today, in a report carried by The Spokesman-Review, gave a different schedule: 300,000 tons 'immediately', an additional 1 million tons in November, then 3 million tons, which Mr. Trump suggested would depend on the condition of Russia's diesel refineries. Ship and Bunker, a marine fuel trade publication, reported the total as up to 4.8 million tons and quoted the post's wording on 'the condition of their Diesel Refineries'. The reports agree on the first 300,000 tons and the 3 million tons; they differ on November. ^{[5, 6]}

What the Kremlin said

The Kremlin's English readout, a statement by Mr. Putin published at 22:50 Moscow time on Friday 9 October, named no tonnage and no dates. It said the call focused on 'prospects for settling the Ukraine crisis', touched on Iran and bilateral relations, and that 'the Russian side confirmed its willingness to supply oil and petroleum products to the US market and global markets at large'. Mr. Putin added: 'I am convinced this will have a positive impact on the entire global economy.' ^[2]

Asked later that night to confirm Mr. Trump's volumes, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said he had read the statement and pointed to Mr. Putin's own words and a statement by the Ministry of Energy. Asked whether the United States had made concessions in return, he said: 'I think the American side will provide certain additional clarifications on this matter.' He said the leaders 'thoroughly discussed the preparation of large-scale economic initiatives, including possible supplies of Russian oil products to the US and global markets', and that the call lasted an hour and a half. ^[3]

The AP reported that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told the state news agency Tass that Russia is 'immediately starting to lift restrictions on diesel exports ahead of schedule' and could start supplies to the United States in October. Russia has banned diesel exports since July, the AP reported, because Ukrainian strikes on its refineries left it short at home; Ship and Bunker dated the ban from Wednesday 8 July and said it had been extended to the end of October. ^{[4, 6]}

The tonnage in barrels

US fuel data count barrels, not tons. Taking a ton of diesel as about 7.45 barrels (the desk's arithmetic; the factor depends on the fuel's density), 300,000 tons is about 2.2 million barrels and the full 4.8 million tons named in the reports is about 35.8 million barrels. The Energy Information Administration's weekly report counts diesel inside 'distillate fuel oil', the middle cut of the barrel that also includes heating oil. ^{[5, 6, 7]}

In the week ending Friday 2 October, the EIA counted 105.1 million barrels of distillate in US stocks and 3.65 million barrels a day of distillate 'product supplied', its measure of how much the country used. By the desk's arithmetic on those figures, the first 300,000 tons equals about 0.6 of a day of US use, about 2 percent of the stock count, and the full 4.8 million tons about ten days of use, or about a third of the stocks on hand that week. ^{[7, 8]}

Analysts quoted in the reports doubted a large effect. Michael Lynch of the Energy Policy Research Foundation told the AP that if the United States gets the diesel, Russia's 'existing customers are not going to get it'. The AP reported AAA's national average for diesel at $6.28 a gallon, after a record $6.52 on Tuesday 22 September; USA Today reported a national average of $6.23. ^{[4, 5]}

Where the license sits in the law

The AP reported that the United States has not imported Russian oil or gas since 2022, when the Biden administration banned them, and that Mr. Trump signed a Russia sanctions law last month that directs the administration to target the top importers of Russian oil and gas. Ship and Bunker reported that the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act of 2022 remains in effect, with the license regarded as a temporary executive waiver, and that the European Union's and Britain's bans on Russian refined products are unchanged. ^{[4, 6]}

The AP described the license as covering Russian diesel 'that has been loaded onto tankers as of Friday', and said it was the first to ease sanctions on diesel for longer than the standard 30-day window since the start of the Ukraine war. The license's own text, as published by the Treasury, carries no loading date: it covers diesel of Russian origin, with the bank-account exception, until Wednesday 7 April 2027. ^{[1, 4]}

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it 'a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners', according to a statement from the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington cited by the AP, and said Russia would repay it 'with further terror and perfidy'. USA Today quoted him: 'Any easing of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious weakness.' ^{[4, 5]}

What settles it next

The EIA's next weekly figures for distillate stocks and use are due on Thursday 15 October, the EIA's next release date. The AP reported that the White House did not say who was paying for the diesel, when it would be available, or whether November's cargoes would arrive before the election on Tuesday 3 November. Russia's export ban had been extended to the end of October, according to Ship and Bunker, and General License 135 lapses at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday 7 April 2027 unless the Treasury extends it. ^{[1, 4, 6, 7]}

Who it reaches

PBF Energy files as one of the largest independent refiners and suppliers of unbranded fuels and heating oil in the United States, with six refineries including Delaware City, Delaware, and Paulsboro, New Jersey, on the East Coast. Valero Energy files that it owns 15 refineries in the United States, Canada and Britain with combined throughput capacity of about 3.2 million barrels a day. Global Partners files that it owns, controls or has access to a terminal network for refined products spanning Maine to Florida and into the Gulf States, with a substantial part of its assets in the Northeast. Licensed Russian diesel would be supply beside what the refiners make, moving through terminals of the kind Global Partners runs; the record holds no cargo, contract or receiving terminal yet. ^{[9, 10, 11]}

Sources

Every stock is a company; the desk grades the company behind the stock. This article describes; it does not recommend. Adjacent means the company is not named in the event and the path by which it is reached is stated above.

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