The countries of the “Group of Seven” (G7) agreed to release 100 million barrels of crude oil and diesel fuel from strategic reserves within four months, and also to refrain from restricting oil exports. On Friday, October 2, French President Emmanuel Macron said this, The Wall Street Journal reports. The measure is aimed at lowering rapidly rising diesel fuel prices and other petroleum product prices, the newspaper notes.

European countries agreed to “release a huge volume of their colossal diesel stockpiles; the process will begin immediately,” U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the decision on Truth Social. The Group of Seven, in addition to European Germany, France and Italy, also includes the United States, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom.

“We have all committed to release these strategic reserves in the proportions I mentioned, with an emphasis on diesel. And we are all required to ensure that there are no export bans, and President Trump in particular was very clear on this issue,” Macron said during a briefing for journalists, stressing that G7 countries also agreed “not to take any measures to restrict the exchange of energy resources and oil products between partner countries” (quote via Bloomberg).

After these news items, prices for European diesel and Brent oil futures fell. The diesel premium over oil, which is closely watched as an indicator of market conditions, collapsed to $69 per barrel from $76.77 on Thursday, according to Bloomberg calculations. Contracts for the benchmark Brent eased to $98.4 per barrel, and WTI crude fell by more than 3% to $88.19, but then oil quotes slightly regained those losses—at the time of publication, Brent is around $100 per barrel (still down more than 1% versus the previous close), while WTI is trading at 90.5%.

Context

The “Group of Seven” statement effectively nullifies the threat of the United States introducing a diesel export ban—at least for now, the WSJ notes. Such a move by the U.S. would create a threat to the continent’s key supply source, which relies heavily on imports to cover the shortfall in its own diesel production, Bloomberg points out.

In the U.S., retail diesel prices in recent months have surged to a record $6.5 per gallon, prompting Trump to say he supports an export ban. In Europe, futures prices at times rose above $200 per barrel—according to traders’ estimates, this is the level that is already starting to put pressure on demand, the agency writes.

The International Energy Agency had already coordinated a plan to release 400 million barrels in March, shortly after the start of the war with Iran, but Trump criticized Europe for not putting those volumes on the market fast enough, Bloomberg reports.ㅤ

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