The U.S. may allow more diesel fuel from Russia onto the global market depending on Moscow's behavior, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.
Wright framed the Trump administration's suspension of U.S. sanctions against Russian diesel exports earlier this month as "an incentive" for Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. It will help with fuel supplies on the margin, he said.
The Russian-flagged tanker Talisman is expected to arrive on the U.S. East Coast on Nov. 9, according to the ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic. Another tanker, the Leruo, has departed Russia en route to the "Atlantic Coast" without explicitly declaring its destination as the U.S.
More tankers with Russian diesel could "quite possibly" set sail under the U.S. sanctions waiver, Wright told CNBC's Power Lunch. "It's trying to put a carrot in front of Russia," the energy secretary said.
President Donald Trump struck a deal with President Vladimir Putin for Russia to export 800,000 metric tons of diesel in October and November, followed by another million tons.