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In today’s newsletter, we take a look at whether President Donald Trump’s deal with Russia to supply diesel to the U.S. and the global market will impact fuel prices here at home.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
TRUMP’S RUSSIA DIESEL DEAL WILL DO LITTLE FOR PRICES AT HOME:
President Donald Trump’s deal with Russia to supply diesel to the U.S. and world is unlikely to significantly lower prices for American consumers.
Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, told Maydeen that the president’s agreement with Russia is “going to have very little impact on diesel prices here in the U.S.”
He noted that the U.S. is one of the top exporters of diesel fuel, particularly from the Gulf Coast, so there’s little need to rely on Russian diesel supplies.
GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan also wrote this morning that he remains “skeptical that it will deliver significant relief to the trucking industry and consumers who depend on diesel.”
How much can Russia export? Last Friday, Trump announced that Russia would release 300,000 metric tons of diesel to the U.S and global markets, equivalent to 75,000 barrels a day, according to Lipow.
Lipow noted that the amount of potential fuel released is only a fraction of the global diesel demand, which stands at around 28 million barrels a day.
“I don’t think that 75,000 barrels a day is enough to make a difference,” he said.
Trump said Russia will also provide another 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons after that. He said that Russia will deliver another 3 million tons of diesel based on their refinery conditions, which have been damaged in the war against Ukraine.
Lipow said he is skeptical that Russia will be able to perform and export that amount of diesel.
“To put it in perspective, 3 million tons a month of diesel fuel equates to the amount of diesel fuel that Russia had been exporting prior to their conflict with Ukraine,” Lipow said.
Backlash from Congress: Republicans and Democrats have also called on the president to reverse his deal with Russia, arguing that Congress has banned energy imports to prevent American dollars from financing President Vladimir Putin’s war.
The lawmakers who released the statement include Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Tom Tillis of North Carolina, and Democrat Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
Trump defended his decision, arguing that he has taken steps to bring down fuel prices.
“I made the right choice for the American People — ALWAYS, AMERICA FIRST! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the president wrote today on Truth Social.
Nationwide diesel prices as of this afternoon remain at a record high of $6.26 per gallon.
All the rest:
TENS OF THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER IN ISAIAS AFTERMATH: Hurricane Isaias made landfall in the U.S. Friday night, bringing destructive winds, flooding rainfall, and widespread power outages across Florida and Alabama. And as of this afternoon, more than 150,000 homes and businesses remained in the dark.
Around 1:30 p.m. EDT today, PowerOutage.US was reporting that more than 136,000 customers in Florida and nearly 18,000 in Alabama were still without power. At the storm’s peak, around 940,000 homes and businesses had lost electricity, according to AccuWeather.
Isaias was the first hurricane to hit the U.S. in the 2026 Atlantic season, later weakening to a post-tropical cyclone as it moved inland.
At least four people died because of the storm.
The destructive storm caused an estimated $16-20 billion in damage across the states. Nearly 13 inches of rainfall was recorded in southern Alabama, while a storm surge reached nearly 6 feet in Panama City Beach, Florida, causing some coastal flooding and beach erosion. Damaging wind gusts reached up to 117 mph.
“Our preliminary estimate of $16 billion to $20 billion in total damage and economic loss reflects far more than the physical damage left behind by this hurricane,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said. “It includes the financial toll of business closures, lost wages, infrastructure repairs, emergency response and recovery efforts, as well as many other factors. For many families and businesses, the economic consequences of this storm will continue long after the storm.”
FRENCH REFRIGERATORS OVERHEATING AND CATCHING FIRE IN CYBER ATTACKS: Refrigerators in French supermarkets are being targeted by remote hackers, who are dialing up their temperature to sweltering levels.
The details: According to Paris authorities, a large-scale cyberattack is affecting connected refrigerators in several major food retailers across France. The tampering — which affected hundreds of retail locations across the country — has caused loss of food inventory and even resulted in fires.
As part of the attack, hackers remotely increased the temperature of fridges and freezers in many supermarkets across the country up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius).
Retail group Coopérative U was one of several major corporations targeted in the cyberattack, which will force hundreds of vendors to trash the merchandise compromised by the temperature spike.
“Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is of extreme gravity and is unprecedented. It is unacceptable,” CEO Dominique Schelcher said.
Read more from the Examiner’s senior foreign affairs reporter Timothy Nerozzi here.
SAUDI ARABIA LOOKS TO INCREASE PIPELINE CAPACITY: Saudi Arabia is looking to further reduce its reliance on the Strait of Hormuz to export oil, and is planning to expand its pipeline capacity by 40%.
Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said today that the country aims to ramp up its pipeline capacity to as much as 10 million barrels per day, according to Reuters. Officials estimate that the country could add as much as 1.2 million barrels to its oil export capacity in just seven to eight weeks.
This would reportedly be done by converting a gas pipeline to handle crude oil. Saudi Aramco has been authorized to use the pipeline for oil until May.
FLASH FLOOD HITS NORTHERN NEPAL: A flash flood hit north central Nepal on Sunday, sweeping away dozens of homes and bridges.
The flood was reportedly caused by a landslide upstream of the Budhi Gandaki River in the Gorkha district.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said yesterday that at least five people remain missing. Nepal’s army had rescued at least 49 people as of Sunday afternoon.
EU PLANS PUSH EMISSIONS REDUCTION DEAL AT COP31: According to an internal European Union document seen by Reuters, the EU plans to push for an agreement on a package of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by turning countries’ existing climate pledges into action at next month’s COP31 climate summit in Turkey.
One of the EU’s priorities will be to extend the UN climate negotiations mitigation work program, where governments talk about ways to cut emissions, through 2040, the document said. The program is set to expire at the end of the year.
The EU will also ask for countries to respond to the UN confirmation last month that the world will miss the 2015 Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Climate ministers plan to discuss their strategies for COP31 today at a meeting, Reuters said.
ICYMI – TRUMP ADMINISTRATION APPROVES RELEASE OF MORE OIL RESERVES: Before Hurricane Isaias even made landfall Friday night, the storm already caused disruptions to the domestic oil and gas industry. Specifically, oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico – renamed Gulf of America – saw significant disruptions.
As the storm approached the coast, several major fossil fuel companies evacuated their offshore rigs. According to the Marine Minerals Administration, about 71.51% of daily oil production and 58.84% of daily natural gas production was shut in by Friday afternoon. In the Gulf region, more than 100 platforms were evacuated, two rigs were moved out of the storm’s path, and eight others were evacuated.
This resulted in nearly 1.46 million barrels of oil production being knocked offline.
And with oil and gasoline prices already soaring, any significant dip in production could add to the upward pressure at the pump. So, the Trump administration took action to prevent there from being any decline in the amount of oil hitting the market.
On Saturday, the Department of Energy announced the “authorization of an emergency exchange” of up to 4 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This is in addition to the agency’s plans to release up to 172 million barrels of oil to combat high prices caused by the war in Iran.
Under the terms of the agreement, the government has approved exchanges of up to 2 million barrels each with ExxonMobil and BP America. These companies will be required to return the borrowed oil with additional premium barrels in 2027, helping replenish the reserves.
A LOOK AHEAD
Oct. 12 is Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day.
Oct. 13 The United States Energy Association is holding a webinar titled, “The Role of Coal Power in Grid Reliability: Meeting the Challenges of AI, Data Centers, and Growing Electricity Demand.”
Oct. 13 The CHARGED Initiative is hosting a webinar focused on load flexibility in Norway, Great Britain, and the United States.
Oct. 14 – 15 Latitude Media’s 2026 Flex Summit, which will focus on the pace of new load capacity being added to the grid by artificial intelligence, will take place in Austin, Texas.
Oct. 15 – 16 The Third Annual Louisiana Economic and Energy Security Summit is taking place in New Orleans.
RUNDOWN
Washington Examiner Green groups split as permitting reform bill creates fork in the road
The Guardian A super El Niño threatens our food system. Here’s how farms can prepare
Politico Australia’s climate change officials face drastic cuts and AI efficiencies
Houston Chronicle Google is betting on this Houston company to power the AI data center boom
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
