The Talisman and the Leruo, the latter owned by a Hong Kong company and sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, no longer list the US Atlantic coast as their port of destination, according to the Financial Times. Both vessels are under European Union sanctions.

The Leruo changed its destination to "Brazil" on 2 November. The Talisman left the Atlantic Ocean for the Mediterranean and is now off the coast of Algeria, listing its destination status as "awaiting orders", which the FT said indicates the absence of a confirmed buyer or discharge port.

A third tanker, the Agioi Fanendes, owned by the Greek shipping company Eastern Mediterranean Maritime, is still heading toward the United States and is due to deliver 40,000 tonnes of fuel to New York by 7 November. The vessel is also transmitting a "for orders" signal. Its owner told the FT that receipt of orders at the discharge port had not yet been confirmed.

Matt Smith, an analyst at the firm Kpler, told the FT he would not be surprised if the Agioi Fanendes also changed course. "Given the apparent caution of US buyers over regulatory, legislative and sanctions risks, it would not be a surprise if this tanker also changed course, abandoning a call at the US," the publication quoted him as saying.

Another sanctioned tanker, the Beast, owned by companies registered in the Seychelles, loaded at the Russian port of Primorsk on 27 October and is continuing to hold course for the US Atlantic coast.

The first tankers carrying Russian diesel left Primorsk on 22 October under an arrangement that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin announced after a telephone call on 9 October. The US Treasury issued a temporary licence permitting supplies of Russian diesel to the world market in circumvention of US sanctions. Trump said the deal would lower fuel prices in the United States. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it "an investment in the war".

According to The Wall Street Journal at the end of October, fuel prices in the US rose by a further seven cents after the deal was announced. By the start of November, the average price of diesel at US filling stations was about $6.30 a gallon ($1.66 a litre), Deutsche Welle reported. US diesel stocks fell below 100 million barrels for the first time in more than twenty years.

Following the midterm congressional elections on 3 November, the Democrats won majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.