G7 Agrees to Release 100 Million Barrels of Oil to Ease High Fuel Prices

G7 Agrees to Release 100 Million Barrels of Oil to Ease High Fuel Prices

Leaders of the Group of 7 nations have agreed to release up to 100 million barrels of crude oil and diesel from emergency reserves. The release will take place over the next four months and aims to ease a supply crunch that has pushed fuel prices sharply higher.

Diesel has been trading at record highs. The fuel is vital for heavy freight transport, delivery services, and farm and construction machinery. The wars in Iran and Ukraine are largely blamed for the supply squeeze.

After the G7 decision was announced, US President Donald Trump withdrew earlier threats to ban American exports of diesel. The United States is the world’s largest supplier of diesel, and a ban would have hurt countries that depend heavily on those supplies.

Russia, another major producer, has already cut back its diesel exports after repeated Ukrainian air strikes on its refineries.

The G7 members are the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Canada, Germany, and Italy. They agreed on the plan during a virtual meeting on Friday.

International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol told the leaders that more than 80 percent of the emergency oil stocks pledged in March have already been released. The new release is an additional step to calm volatile markets.

Separately, President Trump announced that European nations have agreed to release a “massive amount” of their heavily stocked diesel reserves. He said the process would begin immediately, following his suggestion on Thursday that such a move could help bring fuel prices down.

Global benchmark Brent crude closed trading in New York on Friday at $102.25 a barrel, nearly unchanged on the day.

Sources:
– https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/weekend-buzz-3-4-october-2026-china-biz-buzz-1mrqc
– https://en.yenisafak.com/world-economy