--- title: "G7 Agrees to Release 100 Million Barrels of Diesel and Crude After Trump Pressure" description: "The four-month drawdown followed a US threat to ban diesel exports; the IEA said 325 million March barrels are already out" author: "rews desk" published: 2026-10-03T13:59:14Z modified: 2026-10-03T17:58:50Z url: https://rews.cc/a/g7-agrees-to-release-up-to-100-million-barrels-of-emergency--d6049b language: en tags: ["oil", "diesel", "trump", "g7", "economy", "world", "business"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # G7 Agrees to Release 100 Million Barrels of Diesel and Crude After Trump Pressure *The four-month drawdown followed a US threat to ban diesel exports; the IEA said 325 million March barrels are already out* By rews desk · October 3, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/g7-agrees-to-release-up-to-100-million-barrels-of-emergency--d6049b ## In brief - G7 agreed on Friday to release up to 100 million barrels of emergency diesel and crude over four months, coordinated by the IEA - The deal followed US pressure on Germany and France to tap diesel stocks or face a possible American diesel export ban - US diesel averaged $6.37 a gallon on Friday after a record $6.52 on Sept. 22; British diesel hit a record 2 pounds a liter - The IEA said 325 million of the 400 million barrels pledged in March are out; whether the new 100 million overlaps is unclear - Analysts said the release may trim prices temporarily but adds no refinery capacity; the G7 meets at the IEA in the coming days The Group of Seven nations agreed on Friday to release as much as 100 million barrels of emergency diesel and crude oil over four months, capping a week of pressure from the Trump administration that had left Europe choosing between its stockpiles and a threatened American ban on diesel exports. The announcement came from President Emmanuel Macron of France, who holds the rotating G7 presidency, after he chaired a video meeting of the leaders that followed an overnight call with President Trump about fuel prices. The release, coordinated by the International Energy Agency, begins immediately, with what the group’s statement called a front-loaded “substantial diesel release” inside the first 20 days. Members also pledged to make refinery output more flexible and to impose no export restrictions on energy products among themselves. “We have all committed together to releasing these strategic reserves in the proportions I mentioned, with a focus on diesel,” Mr. Macron told reporters. “And we are all committed to ensuring there are no export bans, and President Trump, in particular, was very clear on this point.” Mr. Trump claimed the moment on Truth Social: “Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately.” The pressure had been explicit. Weeks after [floating a 90-day ban](https://rews.cc/a/trump-wants-to-keep-america-s-diesel-at-home-and-even-his-ow-e7d15b), the administration told Germany and France to draw down their emergency diesel inventories or face a possible American export ban, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing three people close to the discussions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on X late Thursday that American farmers, truckers and businesses “should not be left carrying the burden of a global diesel shortage” alone. Europe produces about 70 percent of the diesel it burns and imports the rest; earlier on Friday the European Commission said it “fully rejects any ban on diesel,” and a spokeswoman told reporters it “would not be beneficial to anyone.” The prices gave the pressure its point. The American average for a gallon of diesel was $6.37 on Friday, according to AAA, off a record $6.52 set on Sept. 22. In Britain, diesel hit a record average of 2 pounds a liter, putting a family-car fill-up at 110 pounds, the RAC motoring group said. “This is a pump price threshold that no one wanted to cross,” said Simon Williams, the group’s head of policy. The wars in Iran and Ukraine have knocked out refinery capacity on both fronts, and Chinese refiners suspended some October fuel exports, leaving reserve releases among the few supply options left. Markets responded at once. European diesel futures slid more than $90 a metric ton and American diesel futures fell more than 4 percent, to $4.4491 a gallon, according to LSEG data. Diesel’s premium over crude, a measure of the fuel’s scarcity, dropped to about $69 a barrel from $76.77 on Thursday, Bloomberg data show. Brent crude settled near $100 a barrel, up more than 60 percent this year. Before Friday’s announcement, EU governments had discussed a French proposal under which Europe would release 50 million barrels of diesel and IEA members 50 million barrels of crude, three people familiar with the talks told Reuters. At that ratio, the diesel half would equal about 17 percent of the bloc’s emergency diesel and gas-oil stocks, Eurostat data show, or 3 percent of a year’s consumption. How much of the headline figure is new is less clear. The G7 statement said the release takes into account “commitments that have already been fulfilled,” and on Saturday the IEA said about 325 million barrels of the 400 million pledged in its March collective action, the largest in the agency’s history, had been released so far, more than 80 percent, leaving 75 million outstanding. The G7 did not say whether its figure covered those barrels. Analysts at Energy Aspects called the announcement “a political statement rather than a specific and binding commitment,” with “the large headline number intended to persuade President Trump not to impose a diesel export ban.” Adding diesel to the market is not the same as adding refineries, analysts cautioned. Andy Lipow, the president of Lipow Oil Associates, said the barrels would effectively replace Russian exports lost to Ukrainian drone strikes and “could temporarily reduce diesel prices by 25 cents per gallon,” while doing “little to increase refinery capacity.” Walt Chancellor of Macquarie Group told CNBC that the core problem is energy itself, not diesel: “In short, more oil through the strait of Hormuz and out of the Middle East. Anything short of that is really just shuffling deck chairs.” The strait has been constricted since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, and Tehran’s [seven-day offer to reopen it](https://rews.cc/a/iran-offers-us-a-seven-day-plan-to-reopen-the-strait-of-horm-8efb64) has gone unaccepted in Washington. For Mr. Trump, the timing is electoral: with the Nov. 3 midterm elections a month away, a new AP-NORC poll found a majority of adults blame him for higher prices, and NBC News polling puts approval of his handling of the economy at 41 percent, with 56 percent disapproving. The barrels buy some time before winter, when diesel demand rises, but the leaders conceded the shortage is industrial. They said they would coordinate refinery maintenance schedules to avoid simultaneous shutdowns, though many American and European refiners already run flat out. The G7 said it would convene at the IEA “in the coming days” to weigh further diesel releases. ## Sources - [G7 to Release Up to 100 Million Barrels of Diesel and Crude](https://gcaptain.com/g7-to-release-up-to-100-million-barrels-of-diesel-crude/) — gcaptain.com - [G7 nations agree on diesel, oil stocks release after US pressure](https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3369626/trump-says-europe-agrees-release-diesel-stocks?module=top_story&pgtype=homepage) — scmp.com - [G7 countries agree on release of diesel and oil stocks after US pressure](https://rnz.co.nz/news/world/1689094/g7-countries-agree-on-release-of-diesel-and-oil-stocks-after-us-pressure) — rnz.co.nz - [G7 to release up to 100m barrels of emergency oil and diesel reserves](https://theguardian.com/business/2026/oct/02/g7-release-barrels-oil-diesel-reserves-emergency) — theguardian.com - [G7 Moves to Release 100 Million Barrels to Counter Diesel Crisis](https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/G7-Moves-to-Release-100-Million-Barrels-to-Counter-Diesel-Crisis.html) — oilprice.com - [In boost for Trump, G7 nations to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil](https://ms.now/news/g7-oil-reserves-release-diesel-trump-iran) — ms.now - [G7 agrees 100 million-barrel emergency oil release amid US pressure over diesel](https://euronews.com/2026/10/02/g7-agrees-100-million-barrel-emergency-oil-release-amid-us-pressure-over-diesel) — euronews.com - [G7 countries to release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil reserves](https://nbcnews.com/business/energy/g-7-diesel-crude-release-trump-macron-rcna601132) — nbcnews.com - [IEA says 325 million barrels of emergency oil released, with 75 million still to come](https://euronews.com/2026/10/03/iea-says-325-million-barrels-of-emergency-oil-released-with-75-million-still-to-come) — euronews.com - [G7 to release 100 million barrels of oil and diesel, will it curb prices?](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/3/g7-to-release-100-million-barrels-of-oil-and-diesel-will-it-curb-prices) — aljazeera.com