The Group of Seven agreed Friday to a coordinated release of 100 million barrels of oil from emergency stocks over the next four months. The drawdown begins immediately and includes what the leaders called a "frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days." The agreement came after several days of pressure from the Trump administration on European allies, particularly Germany and France, to put more of their fuel reserves on the market.
President Trump announced the outcome on Truth Social. "Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil," he wrote. "The process will begin immediately." French President Emmanuel Macron, who holds the rotating G7 presidency, presided over the leaders' videoconference, and his office released the joint statement afterward. The two presidents had spoken overnight about rising fuel prices and the availability of petroleum products, according to the French Embassy. A White House official told the New York Post that they spoke again with their G7 counterparts on Friday morning to negotiate the release.
The statement ties the new barrels to earlier promises. After the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, members of the International Energy Agency agreed in March to release 400 million barrels, the largest release of emergency oil stocks in history. Washington says European governments have not delivered their share, and IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said this week that about a third of the March volume had yet to reach the market. Friday's statement asks the agency to monitor "the immediate and full implementation of the March 2026 commitments" and says the release will proceed "taking into account commitments that have already been fulfilled." It does not say how much of the 100 million barrels will be diesel.
Administration officials spent the week pressing for faster delivery. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote Thursday that European partners "should accelerate delivery on their existing commitments and make additional supplies immediately available." Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox News the same day that it was "a time for a coordinated release of diesel stores" as harvest season and the winter heating oil season approach.
The requests came with leverage. The United States is the world's largest diesel exporter, and Trump has promoted a ban on those exports as a way to lower prices at home. Such a ban would squeeze Europe, a net importer of the fuel. Wright had asked European countries to release 120 million barrels over three months or face export restrictions, according to Politico Europe, and RTE reported that Trump had threatened a 90-day ban unless France and Germany jointly released that amount. The figure the G7 settled on is smaller and spread over a longer period.
European officials pushed back before the call. "We fully reject any ban on diesel," European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said Friday. "A ban would not be beneficial to anyone. It would undermine our trust in the United States as a reliable partner." The final statement reaffirms the leaders' commitment to refrain from export restrictions on energy between G7 countries. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed "the decision of G7 countries not to impose any export bans on allies" and said the Commission supports a release coordinated by the IEA.
Diesel averaged $6.37 a gallon in the United States on Friday, according to AAA, down from a record $6.52 on Sept. 22 but about 70 percent above its level in late February. Brent crude was down 3 percent in anticipation of the announcement and still traded above $100 a barrel. Trump and Republicans face pressure to bring fuel costs down before November's midterm elections.
The effect at the pump will depend on how fast governments move. Spread evenly, the release works out to roughly 830,000 barrels a day, and crude drawn from storage must be refined before it becomes diesel, Euronews noted. "If the underlying disruption continues, you cannot keep drawing inventories indefinitely without eventually creating a much bigger supply problem," Matt Stanley, head of market engagement at Kpler, told CNN.
Beyond the stock release, the leaders agreed to coordinate maintenance schedules across G7 refineries so that plants do not go offline at the same time, and to raise utilization temporarily where feasible. Their statement condemned Iran's attacks on its neighbors and commended the United States for its efforts to keep commerce moving through the Strait of Hormuz. The leaders will meet within the IEA in the coming days to discuss further diesel releases if necessary, and the agency is to report back within 20 days with recommendations that include refilling the stocks.