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Diesel prices in Europe jumped 8 percent on Wednesday after the International Energy Agency said member states would not increase the 400 million barrels of crude and refined products they pledged to release in March.
The agency’s announcement followed a hastily arranged meeting by G7 leaders on Friday, during which an agreement was reached to bring 100 million barrels of oil to market over the next four months, prioritizing diesel releases in the first 20 days.
After a meeting of IEA members on Wednesday, the energy watchdog said the 100 million barrels would come from the 400 million barrel stock release agreed in March and would not include additional barrels.
However, members agreed to accelerate the planned release of oil stocks to the market and to give priority to diesel “taking into account current tensions” in the markets.
The lack of additional diesel coming to markets led benchmark European futures to rise as much as 8 percent to $1,435.25 a tonne. They then fell back to $1,389.50, up 4.5 percent on the day.
The IEA said 325 million barrels of oil had been released to the market under the collective mechanism agreed in March, but some countries had released additional barrels.
This includes Japan, which has drawn more than necessary from its strategic reserves to combat rising prices.
The agency said: “The full release of all stocks that had been promised but not yet released during the March 2026 collective action would bring approximately 100 million barrels to the market. »
About half of the barrels to be released would come from European countries, including France and Germany, while much of the rest would come from the United States, sources familiar with the matter said. Last week, the United States announced it would release the remaining 40 million barrels of its strategic reserve.
Several European diplomats told the FT on Wednesday that their governments were reluctant to release higher volumes of oil and diesel from their reserves than they had previously agreed to.
“IEA member governments still have significant levels of public emergency oil stocks, equivalent to approximately 1.1 billion barrels, including more than 200 million barrels of diesel. The IEA stands ready to release more of these stocks into the market if and when necessary,” the agency said.
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