Paris (France) (AFP) – G7 leaders agreed on Friday to release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil within four months, and not to ban exports between member countries as the United States threatened to do, to try to reduce pressure on fuel prices.

Published on: 02/10/2026 - 08:30 Modified on: 02/10/2026 - 23:26

“We have decided to release strategic stocks of diesel and crude oil under the coordination of the International Energy Agency (...) to be able to release up to 100 million barrels within four months,” announced Emmanuel Macron after a video conference of the G7 chaired by France.

“Substantial” stocks of diesel will be put on the market in the next 20 days, according to a statement from the G7 member countries, which do not rule out “discussing the possibility” of releasing “additional” stocks.

In addition, “we are all committed to ensuring that there is no export ban. President Trump has been very clear on this point,” added Mr. Macron.

Donald Trump assured at the same time on his Truth Social network that “Europe had just agreed to put on the market a massive quantity of its abundantly stored diesel”. “The process will begin immediately,” assured the American president.

The American president later in the day judged that Europe had done "very well" to draw on its diesel reserves. "I asked for it. Europe has a lot of diesel and they are going to make a major contribution," Mr. Trump added to reporters.

These decisions "should bring down the prices" of fuels, the prices of which are soaring due to the war in the Middle East, according to the French president.

Threat

Emmanuel Macron also indicated that the G7 countries had agreed to "work (...) to reduce refiners' margins and to reduce transport costs" which have greatly increased with the blockages of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

To relieve the world market, the American government pressed Europe to draw on its diesel stocks and even threatened to ban fuel exports to the European Union in the event of refusal.

Friday evening, Mr. Trump assured that a ban on exports of this fuel “was never really on the table”, although he himself recently raised such a hypothesis.

The oil market had anticipated these announcements. American WTI prices had fallen 5% at midday in London.

Throughout the day, meetings continued in Brussels.

On the French side, Emmanuel Macron had Donald Trump on the phone during the night from Thursday to Friday. He stressed that the G7 countries - Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom - "had a common interest in acting in a concerted manner, without restrictions on exports", according to the Élysée.

The German government, for its part, called for “coordinated solutions” in order to “not further disrupt” the markets.

Legislative

Last March, IEA member states, including those of the EU, promised to gradually release 400 million barrels of oil taken from their strategic stocks, but not all of them have yet been placed on the market.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz are severely hampering global diesel production, although refineries elsewhere in the world are running at full capacity to process crude oil into fuel.

Inflation in the euro zone rose in September to a new three-year high (at 3.8%), due to the surge in energy prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

In the EU, the pump price of diesel has just reached a new historic high with a weekly average of 2.24 euros per liter.

In the United States, this fuel reached a record level of $6.53 per gallon (3.78 liters) at the end of September.

“American farmers, road hauliers and businesses should not have to bear the brunt of a global diesel shortage alone,” said American Finance Minister Scott Bessent before these announcements, while the mid-term legislative elections are being held in early November.

On Tuesday, the European Commission had already made a gesture towards the hydrocarbon giants and Washington, by proposing to postpone for one year its law against methane emissions, an extremely polluting greenhouse gas.

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© 2026 AFP

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