The Group of Seven major economies has agreed to release 100 million barrels of crude oil and fuel from emergency reserves over four months to ease soaring prices.
The coordinated release follows significant pressure from President Donald Trump, who pushed allies to act quickly on rising fuel costs hitting American consumers.
Trump spoke overnight with French President Emmanuel Macron, the current G7 chair, about the urgent need to address rising fuel prices and petroleum product availability.
Macron then chaired a videoconference of G7 leaders on Friday to discuss the crisis, with France holding the rotating presidency of the group.
Trump announced the agreement on Truth Social, writing: “Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately.”
The G7 statement confirmed the plan, saying: “We will implement our commitments with a coordinated release through the IEA of 100 million barrels to begin immediately over 4 months, including a frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days by G7 members and partners.”
The International Energy Agency will coordinate the effort, with particular emphasis on diesel, which recently hit record prices across the United States.
The White House had reportedly asked Europe to unlock at least 100 million barrels and threatened to ban U.S. diesel exports if European countries failed to comply with the request.
The agreement also includes plans to coordinate maintenance schedules for oil refineries to prevent simultaneous capacity shutdowns and temporarily increase utilization rates where feasible.
The group additionally called on non-member partners with significant refining capacity to increase diesel production, while reaffirming a commitment to refrain from export restrictions.
This latest release follows a 400 million barrel crude oil release approved by IEA members in March, which only partially eased supply pressures before prices climbed again.
The Trump administration spent a week pressuring European allies, particularly Germany and France, which hold a large share of the European Union’s diesel reserves.
Trump and Republicans face mounting political pressure to address surging energy costs ahead of November’s midterm elections, making a swift resolution critical.
Oil analyst Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said the release could help smooth recent supply disruptions caused by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries.
“A release of 100 million barrels of diesel fuel over four months would essentially replace Russian exports which have been banned as Ukrainian drone strikes have severely reduced Russian refining capacity,” Lipow said.
On consumer impact, Lipow cautioned that “a release of this magnitude could temporarily reduce diesel prices by 25 cents per gallon but does little to increase refinery capacity to produce more.”
Goldman Sachs estimated the release can offset only around half of the diesel price surge that pushed U.S. pump prices to a record $6.53 per gallon.
