A tanker carrying Russian diesel fuel that was heading to the United States has turned back about 400 miles from New York.
This has heightened uncertainty over supplies to the US market, Bloomberg reports, citing a port report and ship-tracking data.
The Agioi Fanendes, which is carrying about 40,000 metric tonnes of ultra-low sulphur diesel (nearly 300,000 barrels), has begun moving away from the US East Coast and since Monday has been travelling on a zigzag course.
According to tracking systems, no tanker carrying Russian diesel has yet reached the United States.
In late October, the Agioi Fanendes departed the Russian Baltic port of Primorsk, listing New York as its destination, but later changed its status to “awaiting orders”. The vessel’s managing company, Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Ltd., said the tanker is still awaiting instructions because the discharge port has not yet been confirmed. Earlier, the Russian news agency Interfax reported that, under agreements between Putin and Trump, Russia loaded four tankers with diesel fuel for the United States.
The deal was intended to bring down fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections, although Democrats considered its impact too limited. At the same time, there are doubts over whether Russia will be able to export the promised volumes of diesel amid the resumption of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.
By Bloomberg’s calculations, since the start of November six Russian refineries have been hit, with a combined nameplate capacity of about 1.7 million barrels a day. In late October, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia planned to export more than 2 million tonnes of diesel to global markets in November, but acknowledged that Ukrainian attacks could reduce the volumes available for supply.
- In October, Trump said he had reached an agreement with Putin on supplies of diesel fuel from Russia to the US and global markets.
- According to him, Russia would deliver more than 300,000 tonnes of fuel “immediately”, another 500,000 tonnes during November, and 1 million tonnes straight after that.