Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Oct 12 that Russia has the capacity to increase diesel fuel exports and that by the end of the year they could reach 3.0-3.5 million metric tonnes per month, returning to the levels seen before the crisis. Novak, President Vladimir Putin's pointman on oil, made the statement on the Rossiya-24 state television channel.
Russia can return diesel exports to levels seen before the crisis, Novak says
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Oct 12 that Russia has the capacity to increase diesel fuel exports and that by the end of the year they could reach 3.0-3.5 million metric tonnes per month, returning to the levels seen before the crisis. Novak, President Vladimir Putin's pointman on oil, made the statement on the Rossiya-24 state television channel.
US President Donald Trump announced on Oct 9 that Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global markets, and his administration temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel that the source describes as designed to deprive Moscow of revenue for its war on Ukraine.
The source attributes a collapse in Russian diesel exports to Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries and to self-imposed overseas sales restrictions. Before Ukraine launched a barrage of drone attacks on Russian oil refineries in 2024-2025, Russian diesel exports amounted to more than 3 million metric tonnes per month.
Despite a self-imposed export ban, Moscow has continued to supply diesel to countries, mostly in Central Asia, under government deals, with Russian diesel exports to Central Asia in September amounting to 427,000 tonnes, according to industry sources.
Soaring US diesel prices are hurting US truckers and farmers and are a concern for voters and political parties ahead of US midterm elections on Nov 3.
Trump said on Oct 9 that Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tonnes (2.25 million barrels) of diesel to US and global markets, another 500,000 tonnes in November and a further 1 million tonnes "immediately thereafter". That is less than a day's supply for the US transport sector alone, according to US Energy Information Administration data, which shows daily use of around 2.94 million barrels per day.
- The source does not state Russia's current monthly diesel export volume, so the size of the increase Novak described cannot be calculated from it.
- The source does not state the terms, duration, or scope of the US sanctions relief on Russian fuel.
- The source does not state how the volumes Trump described break down between US and global markets.
- The source does not state the period over which Novak said global diesel prices fell by around 5-6%, nor cite independent confirmation of that figure.
- The source does not identify the industry sources behind the 427,000-tonne figure for Russian diesel exports to Central Asia in September.
Read the original at The Straits Times