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... Trump announced the deal with President Vladimir Putin in October to supply roughly 36 million barrels of the fuel to the U.S. and other buyers, part of a broader effort to lower energy prices that have rallied largely because of the Iran war.

The White House is sticking with the plan even as it earned bipartisan blowback from Republicans and Democrats. Despite efforts to find a buyer, none has so far emerged publicly, and oil traders and analysts are growing increasingly skeptical that any of the four vessels Russia says are carrying diesel will unload in the U.S.

Now, Brazilian fuel distributors are being offered Russian diesel instead.

Several commodity trading companies and other potential counterparties have deemed the risks too large to consider importing the cargoes to the U.S., according to people familiar with internal deliberations, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to talk on the record.

"We understand that there's strong reluctance by private companies to be involved in these Russian diesel cargoes due to attendant significant legal and reputational risk," said Bob McNally, founder and president of Rapidan Energy Group.

In particular, firms are skeptical that a sanctions waiver issued Oct. 9 by the Treasury Department supersedes the 2022 law banning imports of Russian oil and fuel, some of the people said, despite assurances from the White House. ...