G7 plans 100 million-barrel oil release to ease soaring fuel prices

The Group of Seven nations and their partners plan to release as much as 100 million barrels of emergency crude oil and diesel stocks to ease tight fuel supplies and bring down elevated diesel prices.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the agreement on Friday, October 2, saying the release would be coordinated through the International Energy Agency (IEA) over the next four months, with diesel supplies taking priority in the initial phase.

The agreement follows pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump, which had pushed European countries to accelerate releases from their emergency fuel reserves as diesel prices climbed.

G7 priorities diesel reserve release

Under the agreement, a significant volume of diesel is expected to be released within the first 20 days, while the IEA could consider further drawdowns if supply conditions remain tight.

Part of the planned 100 million barrels will also come from stocks that countries had already committed under an earlier IEA-coordinated release in March but have yet to put on the market.

• “We have all committed together to releasing these strategic reserves in the proportions I mentioned, with a focus on diesel,” Macron said. “We are all committed to ensuring there are no export bans, and President Trump, in particular, was very clear on this point.”
• “Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil,” Trump said in a social media post on Friday. “The process will begin immediately.”

The G7, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, also reaffirmed its commitment to avoiding energy export restrictions between member countries. The announcement has already weighed on fuel markets, with European gasoil futures, a benchmark for diesel prices, falling about 4.3% to $1,386.75 per metric tonne on Friday afternoon as traders priced in the prospect of additional supply.

Earlier IEA release remains incomplete

In March, Nairametrics reported that the International Energy Agency announced plans for an emergency release of about 400 million barrels of oil, the largest coordinated stock drawdown in the agency’s roughly 50-year history.

• The intervention was announced as governments moved to address supply disruptions following the outbreak of the Iran war, while the latest G7 plan follows renewed pressure to tackle shortages in refined fuels, particularly diesel.
• Not all barrels committed under the March intervention have reached the market, with IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol saying earlier this week that roughly a third of the initial stocks remained unreleased.
• Diesel markets have come under particular pressure since the Iran conflict began in late February, following disruptions to Middle Eastern production and shipping through critical routes such as the Strait of Hormuz.

Limited global refining capacity and continued disruption from the Russia-Ukraine war have also added pressure to diesel supplies.

The proposed release could provide some short-term relief by increasing available inventories, with European gasoil trading at about $1,386.75 per metric tonne on Friday after falling more than 4% as expectations of emergency stock releases eased concerns about near-term supply shortages.

Nigeria diesel prices rise 27%

Nigeria has also experienced a sharp increase in diesel prices since the beginning of the latest global energy shock.

• Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil stood at N1,420.17 per litre in February 2026, around the period the Iran conflict began, while current market data puts diesel at about N1,800 per litre.
• The current price represents an increase of roughly 27% from February levels and is also higher than N1,730 per litre one month ago and N1,442.50 three months ago.
• Compared with N964.75 per litre a year ago, the current diesel price represents an increase of about 86.6%.
• Data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority showed that average daily diesel imports dropped to about 1.3 million litres in August from 7.9 million litres in July. Petrol imports also declined to an average of 14.6 million litres per day in August 2026, down about 26% from 19.7 million litres per day in July.

The reduction in imports means domestic fuel prices are becoming less directly dependent on the volume of finished products brought into the country, although global crude prices, refining economics, foreign exchange costs and international product prices can still influence local pricing.