G7 to release up to 100m barrels of emergency oil and diesel reserves

Emmanuel Macron said ministers had agreed to release stocks from their strategic oil reserves after crisis talks. Photograph: Jeanne Accorsini/Sipa/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenEmmanuel Macron said ministers had agreed to release stocks from their strategic oil reserves after crisis talks. Photograph: Jeanne Accorsini/Sipa/ShutterstockOilG7 to release up to 100m barrels of emergency oil and diesel reservesLeaders agree a coordinated drawdown after surge in prices and Donald Trump’s threat to cut off US supplies

Leaders of G7 nations are to release up to 100m barrels of their emergency diesel and crude oil stockpiles after Donald Trump threatened to cut off supplies of US diesel.

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, said ministers from some of world’s largest economies had agreed to release stocks from their strategic oil reserves after crisis talks on Friday.

Macron convened the leaders’ video call to discuss the global surge in diesel prices, and Trump’s threat to cut off US diesel exports unless Europe tapped their own stockpiles to help cool global markets.

Under proposals reportedly drawn up by Macron, the current G7 chair, members will release 50m barrels of diesel and 50m of crude oil into the global market to ease prices.

The agreement suggests European countries will avoid being cut off from vital supplies of US diesel after coming under pressure from the White House in recent days to release their emergency supplies or face a US diesel export ban.

Trump said he was considering a ban on diesel exports after the surge in sales to overseas buyers pushed US diesel prices to record highs in a blow to the economy before the US midterm elections in November.

Macron said G7 nations – which also includes the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan – wanted to “work in a coordinated manner to help bring down the prices of petroleum products, particularly diesel”.

He added that the G7 members and partners would front-load a substantial diesel release within the first 20 days and that ministers would discuss the “possibility of additional diesel releases as necessary” in the coming days.

“We have all committed together to releasing these strategic reserves in the proportions I mentioned, with a focus on diesel, and we are all committed to ensuring there are no export bans, and President Trump, in particular, was very clear on this point,” Macron said.

9:37Diesel export ban: will Trump push global energy prices even higher? - The LatestTrump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that Europe had “agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil” and that the process would start “immediately”.

The threat of a US export ban presented a considerable challenge for Europe, which produces about 70% of the diesel it consumes from domestic refineries but relies on imports to make up the shortfall.