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Morning Edition · Thursday, October 15, 2026Published at 1:13 AM EDT · New York
Washington considers letting sanctioned tankers carry oil and seeks Russian diesel before the midterms
Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed that talks on easing shadow-fleet sanctions are under way. Moscow says the diesel supply deal President Trump announced is still being negotiated.
The Trump administration is considering easing sanctions on the "shadow fleet," the tankers that have carried oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela, Reuters reported. The goal is to lower freight rates that the report described as the highest on record. Under the proposal, companies could apply to the Treasury to use sanctioned ships to carry oil that Washington does not sanction, while Russian and Iranian crude itself would remain off limits. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the World Petroleum Congress in Riyadh by video that the administration was discussing the change. Russia's TASS news agency carried the same Reuters account.
The tanker proposal comes on top of a diesel arrangement that the White House presents as settled and Moscow describes as unfinished. President Trump wrote that Vladimir Putin had agreed to supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel at once, 500,000 tons in November, and more afterward. Africanews reported that Russia says the deal remains under negotiation. The US Treasury has issued a waiver for previously sanctioned Russian fuel.
Moscow is treating Washington and Western Europe differently. Russia's deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Galuzin, told Kommersant that Russia currently has "nothing to talk about" with Britain, Germany and France over Ukraine, saying those countries try to deal with Russia through "ultimatum-style and pointless" sanctions.
Venezuela shows a similar pattern. On Wednesday the US Treasury removed Jorge Rodríguez from its sanctions list. Rodríguez is president of Venezuela's National Assembly and brother of acting president Delcy Rodríguez. MercoPress noted that the Treasury gave no reason for the move.
Part of a tracked trend
Sanctions Bend to Pump Prices
Each time high fuel prices threaten Washington's domestic politics, it trades temporary sanctions relief for Russian energy supply. Russian barrels regain Western market access step by step, and the deterrent value of US sanctions declines.
Veracity: Corroborated
78/100- If true, who benefits
If the framing holds, the people who gain are owners of sanctioned tankers, charterers who need more ships, US crude exporters hurt by the high freight rates that Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited, and the administration before the midterms. Moscow gains a precedent of sanctions relief granted one item at a time.
- The nuance
The tanker proposal is well sourced. Reuters reported it, TASS carried the same account, and Wright confirmed the talks. The Department of Energy says the change would not help Russia move its own oil, and shipping experts doubt it would lower freight costs much. The diesel deal is the weaker claim. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said the world will be properly supplied only after sanctions are lifted, which makes Russian supply a demand for concessions, not a settled agreement. We could not independently confirm the Galuzin quotation in Kommersant.
An open-source-intelligence read of how likely this story is true with its real nuance, not a judgment of any outlet. It assesses the claim, weighing independent and adversarial reporting. .
Synthesized from: Investing.com Commodities · Africanews · Kommersant · MercoPress
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Comments
1Oct 15, 5:13 AM
Letting sanctioned tankers carry unsanctioned oil moves enforcement from the ship to the cargo, so the policy works only if Treasury can verify where the crude came from at each loading.