G7 to release millions of barrels of oil and diesel after Trump threat

The G7 has announced 100 million barrels of oil and diesel will be released to ease supply concerns that have caused prices to skyrocket.

It includes a "substantial release" of diesel within 20 days, with discussions around "additional diesel releases as necessary", G7 leaders said in a statement.

The group of advanced economies, including the US, said the move would begin immediately and would last for four months.

Under the measures, which come after US President Donald Trump had threatened to ban diesel exports, there will not be any "export restrictions on energy and energy products" between G7 members.

The G7 includes the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy and France, with the EU also represented at its meetings.

Donald Trump had warned he would ban diesel exports from the US if European countries did not agree to put more of their own stocks onto the market. That would have eased pressure on prices for US consumers ahead of November's midterm elections, but pushed up prices elsewhere.

On Friday, he said on social media: "Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately."

His Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had argued US farmers, truckers, and businesses "should not be left carrying the burden" as prices soar.

Speaking later at the White House, Trump said an export ban on diesel was "never really on the table".

Referring to the decision by the G7 to release fuel from reserves, he added that "what Europe did was a great thing."

"Europe has a lot of diesel and they're going to be making a major world contribution - and so are we," he said.

"And we're not going to be doing the export ban, we're going to be doing what we're supposed to do."

Trump had first said he backed a diesel export ban early last week, and was still considering it on Thursday, as his administration put pressure on Europe to tap its supplies.

Diesel is used heavily by the haulage industry and in agriculture, meaning rises in the cost of the fuel feed through into essentials such as food.