Article · Geopolitics · Energy · Money and markets
The US lets Russian diesel into its market: 300,000 tonnes is about 14 hours of American consumption
On 9 October 2026 Donald Trump announced that Russia will supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global markets, another 500,000 in November and a million after that. The same day the US Treasury's OFAC issued General License 135 allowing the sale and import of Russian diesel; according to a document quoted by NBC it runs until 7 April 2027. The first batch is about 14 hours of US diesel use (our calculation, from the 3.5 million tonnes per week cited by a Ukrainian official), so the number alone does not promise a big move in prices. When deliveries start, who pays, and whether Russia will really lift its export ban, nobody has confirmed.
A country whose energy sector Washington put under broad sanctions about a month ago can sell diesel to the United States from 9 October 2026, because the price there is near a record ([Euronews](https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/09/trump-says-us-to-import-russian-diesel-to-ease-prices)).
For a reader in the EU this matters for two reasons: diesel moves food and farm goods, and the decision shows that prices in America now weigh more than pressure on Moscow. The diesel market is one global market.