G7 to Release 100 Barrels of Diesel to Ease Price

The Group of 7, which includes Britain, France and Japan, announced the release of 100 million barrels over four months, effective immediately.

· The Group of Seven (G7) nations, comprising the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from strategic reserves.

· The release will take place over the next four months and will be coordinated by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

· The move aims to address record-high diesel prices caused by the ongoing Iran conflict and disruptions to global refining capacity.

· G7 leaders described the action as a coordinated effort to stabilize energy supplies and curb fuel price spikes.

· A significant portion of the fuel release is expected within the next 20 days.

· Diesel supplies have been severely affected by:

o Damage to refineries in the Middle East due to military strikes.

o Refinery disruptions in Russia following attacks on energy infrastructure.

o Reduced refining capacity worldwide.

· This is the second major coordinated fuel reserve release since the onset of the Iran-related energy crisis in 2026.

· U.S. President Donald Trump had previously considered restricting diesel exports but, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, agreed not to impose an export ban.

· The announcement helped reduce market concerns over a potential U.S. diesel export restriction.

· Following the decision, U.S. diesel futures prices fell by about 6%, indicating market relief.

· Analysts expect any decline in retail diesel prices to take up to two weeks to become visible to consumers.

· Europe remains highly vulnerable because:

o It imports around 1.5 million barrels of diesel per day.

o About one-third of these imports come from the United States.

o The continent has lost significant refining capacity and no longer imports Russian diesel.

· Some experts believe the reserve release may not fully offset global shortages, especially after Russia's export restrictions and reduced Chinese diesel exports.

· China's diesel export policy continues to play a significant role in determining global fuel supply and prices.

· Analysts view the reserve release as helpful, though insufficient on its own to completely resolve the worldwide diesel shortage.

[ABS News Service/03.10.2026]

Leaders from some of the world’s wealthiest nations agreed on Friday to release diesel from their reserve stockpiles to help ease a growing crisis over record-high prices driven mostly by the war in Iran.

Under the plan, the Group of 7 countries — the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Britain and Canada — will release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from strategic stockpiles over the coming four months. That is equivalent to around one day’s worth of global oil demand. The effort will be coordinated by the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based multilateral organization.

Calling the plan “decisive, coordinated measures to stabilize immediate energy supplies” and curb price spikes, the Group of 7 said that they would also make a “substantial” release of diesel within 20 days.

The group did not specify how much of the fuel to be released would be diesel and how much would be unrefined crude oil. Diesel and related fuels make up roughly 28 percent of the world’s oil demand, according to the I.E.A. They have been in especially short supply because military strikes on energy infrastructure in the Middle East and Russia have severely damaged refineries, reducing the world’s capacity to turn oil into the fuels that consumers use.

The deal is the second time nations have come together for a major release of fuel since the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, triggering a global energy crisis. In March, the I.E.A. announced that world leaders would tap 400 million barrels of oil, the largest coordinated release of stockpiled oil on record by members of the energy agency.

President Trump had threatened to impose a ban on the export of U.S. diesel, a move that has drawn fierce opposition from both American oil companies and European leaders. Retail diesel prices in the United States topped $6.50 a gallon in recent weeks, the highest ever, putting pressure on Mr. Trump and Republicans to find ways to lower prices ahead of the midterm elections in November.

“Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil,” Mr. Trump said on social media of the G7 announcement.

President Emmanuel Macron of France, the current G7 chair, said that Mr. Trump had committed to not impose an export ban on diesel fuel. Mr. Macron, who convened Friday’s teleconference, said he expected the release of emergency oil and diesel to cause gasoline and fuel prices to “drop at the pump as quickly as possible.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the 27-nation European Union, said the bloc supported the G7 decision not to restrict exports.

ClearView, an energy research firm in Washington, said in a note to clients on Friday that it would not “rule out export constraints governing destinations outside the G7, but odds now look lower.”

The price of diesel futures in the United States fell 6 percent on Friday. Prices that consumers pay at the pump typically follow, albeit more slowly.

Hamad Hussain, a senior economist with Capital Economics, a research firm, said it could take as much as two weeks for retail prices to fall.

“We’ll see some of the future alleviated, but it won’t be immediately obvious for consumers at the pump,” he said.

A U.S. export ban on diesel would be deeply damaging in Europe, which has become increasingly dependent on American fuel after banning Russian imports over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The continent has closed significant refining capacity in recent years because of high operating costs as well as climate regulations. That has exacerbated Europe’s vulnerability, making it even more reliant on imported crude and refined fuels from the Middle East, the United States and other regions.

Europe imports about 1.5 million barrels a day, with a third coming from the United States, according to S&P Global, a market data firm.

“Europe has been very reluctant to let go of their stocks because they are concerned about a prolonged disruption, and they wish to hoard the supplies they have,” said Robert McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, a research and consulting firm in Washington.

Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser to Gulf Oil, called the G7 release “underwhelming,” and said it amounts to barely half of the levels once imported from Russia.

Russia had remained a big exporter of diesel beyond Europe, but this year banned exports after Ukrainian drone attacks damaged refineries. It renewed that ban this week.

Another factor weighing on the diesel market is China, the world’s biggest crude importer and a big supplier of diesel to other countries, especially in Asia. China recently started restricting its exports of refined fuel including diesel, something it had done earlier in the war in Iran but then eased.

Mr. Hussain of Capital Economics noted that if the release is evenly split between crude oil and diesel, it would amount to about 400,000 barrels a day of diesel entering the market. That’s not enough to fully offset fuel that was once imported from Russia, but, he said, “it’s definitely helpful.”