Brent tops $110 as US bill targets Russian diesel licence

Brent crude rose above $110 a barrel during trading on Friday 16 October, as markets weighed risks to energy supplies and a US bill aimed at Russian diesel transactions. Nieuws.nl, citing ANP/Bloomberg, reported a rise of nearly 4%. NBC News said Brent crossed $110 shortly after 2.30pm US eastern time; that was an intraday price, not a closing figure. [1] [7]

Representative Gregory Meeks, the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced legislation that would cancel a new US Treasury licence for transactions involving Russian-origin diesel if it became law. Issued on 9 October, General Licence 135 permits certain sales, deliveries and imports until 7 April 2027. The bill would also restrict future authorisations involving Russian energy, but the existing licence remains in force. NBC News assessed the bill’s chances of passing the Republican-controlled House as slim. [2] [3] [4] [7]

President Donald Trump said on 9 October that Russia would supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel immediately, another 500,000 tonnes in November and one million tonnes thereafter. He said a further three million tonnes depended on the condition of Russian refineries. Even including that conditional tranche, the announced quantities amount to a little over 4.8 million tonnes—not the hundreds of millions of barrels described by Nieuws.nl. NBC News reported that no Russian diesel had been identified as reaching the world market by Friday. [5] [1] [7]

Delivery remains a question. NOS reported, citing data provider Kpler, that Russian diesel exports had stopped in September, compared with 1.5 million to 2.5 million tonnes a month a year earlier. Kpler analyst Ivan Rjabov told NOS that Russia could deliver the first announced tranche, but larger later shipments were uncertain. [8]

A Wells Fargo analyst quoted by NBC News said the bill added to doubts about the diesel arrangement. He also cited concern about attacks on shipping and infrastructure in the Middle East, so the bill cannot be assigned a measured share of Friday’s Brent rise. Accounts calling the $110 crossing the first since May face a separate qualification: a September market report and a market podcast both recorded a Brent futures high of about $110.19 on 11 September. Without a like-for-like contract comparison, the ‘first since May’ claim remains unresolved. [7] [9] [10]