The tanker billed as the first to carry Russian diesel to the United States under Donald Trump’s deal with Vladimir Putin has dropped New York as its destination. The Malta-flagged Agioi Fanendes left Primorsk on October 22 with about 40,000 metric tons of ultra-low-sulfur diesel, due in New York on November 7. Lloyd’s List reported it idling off Skagen, Denmark, on October 26. Its tracking now shows “for orders,” meaning it has no declared port.
On October 27, Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote to Thanassis Martinos, managing director of the tanker’s Athens-based owner, Eastern Mediterranean Maritime. He demanded that the company recall the vessel if it intends to deliver to a U.S. port, and refrain from future Russian diesel deals.
Blumenthal argues that the 2022 Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act bars the cargo regardless of Treasury’s General License 135, which authorizes Russian diesel transactions through April 7, 2027. “The President may have given a license to facilitate this transaction, but only Congress can make it legally valid,” he wrote.
He gave the company until October 31 to identify the seller, buyer, charterer, insurer and terminal operator, and to disclose any direction it received from Treasury or another federal agency.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has warned banks, including Goldman Sachs, as well as port authorities in Houston, Corpus Christi, Beaumont and New York/New Jersey, that handling the imports could expose them to civil and criminal liability. Malta’s sanctions unit is seeking price-cap attestations from the tanker’s owners.
Two more tankers, the Leruo and the Talisman, are carrying Russian diesel toward the U.S. Both are reportedly under Western sanctions. Kpler puts the three cargoes at 924,000 barrels. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said a fourth tanker was expected to sail on October 28.
Trump has dismissed his Republican critics as people who “can’t really be serious.”
With no declared destination, and with U.S. banks and ports warned away, the Agioi Fanendes could be redirected to Cuba. The island ran out of diesel and fuel oil in May, after two Russian tankers reached its coast this spring despite the U.S. blockade. In March, Trump said he had “no problem” with a sanctioned Russian tanker bringing oil to the island.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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