Tanker carrying Russian diesel briefly lists New York as destination

The 40,000-metric-ton cargo could reopen a route unused since 2022

The Malta-flagged Agioi Fanendes loaded about 40,000 metric tons of ultra-low-sulfur diesel at Russia’s Primorsk port on Thursday, Kpler data showed. The cargo was equivalent to roughly 300,000 barrels.

After loading, the tanker updated its destination to New York before changing the listing to “for orders,” a designation that typically means a vessel has no confirmed final discharge port. Kpler estimated an arrival date of Nov. 7, but the changing listing did not establish that New York would receive the cargo.

On Friday, the Russian embassy in South Africa said in a post on X that a tanker carrying Russian fuel was leaving Primorsk and heading to New York. The statement matched the destination signal recorded for the Agioi Fanendes, according to the tanker data cited in the report.

Greece-based Eastern Mediterranean Maritime, which manages Maltatankers Shipping, the tanker’s owner, said the discharging port “is not confirmed yet.” The ship manager’s statement and the tanker’s “for orders” designation left open whether the diesel would enter the United States at New York.

The cargo follows Trump’s Oct. 9 announcement that Russia had agreed to supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to U.S. and global markets immediately. Trump said another 500,000 metric tons were expected in November, followed by 1 million tons immediately thereafter.

The agreement included suspending sanctions on Russian diesel exports for about six months. The administration said it sought to bring down soaring diesel prices ahead of U.S. midterm elections. The report said wars in the Middle East and Ukraine had sent diesel costs sharply higher, while the American Automobile Association put the average U.S. price at $6.32 a gallon on Friday, up from $3.63 a year earlier.

If discharged in the United States, the Agioi Fanendes would be the first cargo to travel from Primorsk to New York since 2022. Former President Joe Biden announced a ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil and petroleum products that year.

The tanker data documented a possible first cargo under the suspended-sanctions arrangement, not a completed U.S. import. The ship manager had not confirmed a final discharge port, so the New York delivery remained unresolved.

MSI previously reported that energy analysts and traders said the announced Russian diesel volumes were too small to ease the global supply squeeze. The Agioi Fanendes listing advances that earlier development with a possible cargo bound for the United States, although the tanker’s final discharge port remains unconfirmed.