BRUSSELS — The G7 group of rich countries has agreed to release 100 million barrels of oil over the next four months, following intense pressure from the Trump administration for Europe to tap its stockpiles of diesel. The French government announced the decision after an emergency of G7 countries on Friday, saying the release of 100 million barrels of oil would "begin immediately" and would start with release of diesel stocks. It added that that under the agreement there would be “no restrictions or bans on exports among G7 countries" — suggesting the U.S. had agreed to drop its threat to ban diesel exports.
The statement did not specify that the releases would come from European reserves, but U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that Europe had conceded to pressure. "Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"The process will begin immediately." The announcement comes after several rounds of emergency talks between European governments over how to respond to the U.S. pressure, with France proposing a release of 100 million barrels of European oil and diesel earlier Friday. The G7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. The announcement comes after POLITICO reported earlier this week that the U.S. administration was directly requesting that EU governments and the United Kingdom release new stocks of diesel and crude oil into the market to cushion a sharp rise in diesel prices that threatens the U.S. agricultural sector and has heaped pressure on Trump ahead of critical midterm elections next month.
While G7 countries participated in a release of 400 barrels of oil earlier this year led by the International Energy Agency, many of the barrels released never made it to market because they were unable to compete with cheaper U.S. crude that has recently flooded the bloc, according to a trader and an EU diplomat. But they were, officially, available, the people said. Two other diplomats suggested Friday that the announcement was simply a reaffirmation of that March commitment.
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