Paris (France) (AFP) - G7 leaders agreed on Friday to release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and oil over the next four months in a bid to reduce pressure on fuel prices.

First modification: 10/02/2026 - 17:30 Last modification: 10/02/2026 - 22:55

In addition, they also agreed not to prohibit exports between member countries, as the United States threatened to do.

"It has been decided to release the strategic reserves of diesel and crude oil under the coordination of the International Energy Agency (...) to be able to release up to 100 million barrels in the next four months," said French President Emmanuel Macron at the end of a videoconference of the G7, chaired by France.

The measure will mean putting "substantial" reserves on the market in the next 20 days, according to a statement from the G7 member countries - Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom -, which do not rule out "discussing the possibility" of releasing "additional" reserves.

In addition, "we have committed that there will be no ban on exports, President (Donald) Trump has been very clear about this," Macron added.

These decisions "should bring down the prices" of fuel, according to Macron.

The Frenchman also indicated that the G7 countries had agreed to "work (...) to reduce refiners' margins and to reduce transportation costs," which have increased considerably due to the war in the Middle East and the blockades of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Threats

To relieve the world market, the US Government had been pressuring Europe for a few days to use its diesel reserves and was even threatening to ban its fuel exports to the European Union (EU) if it refused.

"What Europe did is something important," Trump reacted this Friday in statements to the press. The question of the export ban "was never really on the table," he clarified when asked by AFP.

The European Commission had already warned that such a ban would damage its "confidence in the United States as a reliable partner."

An interruption of US supplies would have had major consequences for the EU, since 50% of the diesel imported by the 27 countries of the bloc comes from the United States.

The oil market reacted to the announcements with a slight drop in prices.

North Sea Brent, for delivery in December, closed the day with a loss of 0.06% to $102.25 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate, for delivery in November, fell 1.90% to $91.11 per barrel.

The meetings took place in Brussels throughout the day and Macron spoke by phone with Trump early Friday morning.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz seriously harm global diesel production, although refineries in other parts of the world operate normally to transform crude oil into fuel.

Eurozone inflation rose in September to a new three-year high (3.8%), due to the sharp increase in energy prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

In the EU, the price of diesel at service stations has just reached a new all-time high, with a weekly average of 2.24 euros per liter ($2.52).

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

© 2026 AFP

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