The Group of Seven agreed on Friday to a coordinated G7 oil release of 100 million barrels from emergency stocks over four months, with a “substantial” diesel release front-loaded into the first 20 days. The joint statement, issued by the office of French President Emmanuel Macron, said the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Paris-based body that coordinates its members’ emergency oil reserves, will manage the release, and that it begins immediately. G7 members also pledged to refrain from energy export restrictions and urged other countries to do likewise. The move comes as US diesel prices sit near record highs.
How a disputed export ban shaped the talks
Macron spoke overnight with President Donald Trump about rising fuel prices and the availability of petroleum products, his office said, then chaired a videoconference of G7 leaders on Friday. France holds the group’s rotating presidency; the other members are Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. Trump announced the outcome on social media, saying Europe had agreed to release a large volume of its diesel stocks.
The Financial Times and France 24 reported that Washington had threatened to ban US diesel exports unless Europe drew down more of its reserves. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had urged European countries on Thursday to tap their stocks without delay. Trump said on Friday that a ban “was never really on the table,” and Macron said Trump had not threatened an embargo, describing the exchange as constructive. The accounts therefore differ on whether a ban was threatened; what is on record is the G7 pledge against energy export curbs.
The European Commission had objected earlier in the day. Spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said the EU rejected any diesel ban outright, arguing it would help nobody and erode European trust in the US as a dependable partner. The stakes are real for Europe: the IEA said the US supplied roughly half of the EU’s diesel imports in August.
Diesel prices and the political clock
The national average for a gallon of diesel in the US was $6.37 on Friday, according to AAA, down from a record of $6.52 on September 22. The Associated Press reported that fuel prices have climbed worldwide during the war with Iran, now in its eighth month. Trump has said the cost is worth it to stop Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, and has said prices will fall after the war ends.
Fuel costs are a live issue ahead of US midterm elections in November. A new AP-NORC poll found that a majority of US adults blame Trump for higher prices.
How the G7 oil release follows March’s record draw
This is not the first coordinated release of the conflict. In March, IEA members agreed to make about 400 million barrels available, more than double the 182.7 million released in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. IEA chief Fatih Birol said this week that members had released about two-thirds of that volume. According to the Financial Times, the US has largely completed its share, while some European countries have not met theirs.
The same newspaper cited diplomats as saying France had earlier proposed that Europe release 50 million barrels of diesel and that IEA members unlock a further 50 million barrels of crude. The G7 statement, as reported, does not confirm that split.
What the statement does not say
Outlets describe the 100 million barrels differently: AP calls it oil, the Financial Times refined products including diesel, and France 24 diesel and crude. The reported text does not give each country’s share, name the “partners” expected to take part, or say how the new volume relates to the part of the March pledge still unreleased.
Whether the G7 oil release will lower pump prices is also unproven. When the March release was first reported, Reuters noted that oil prices rebounded because markets doubted it could offset the supply shock from the war. Diesel matters beyond drivers, because it fuels trucks, farm machinery and freight. Macron’s office said American farmers, truckers and businesses should not carry the burden of a global diesel shortage. Whether that burden eases depends on how fast the barrels reach the market, and on a war with no announced end.