America is pressuring Europe to release diesel reserves “immediately” to curb prices

European officials are holding crisis talks in light of increasing US pressure on the region to use its emergency diesel stocks to curb rising prices, or face a possible ban on US fuel exports. The European Commission said in a statement that European officials discussed, on Friday, measures to confront the rise in diesel prices, while France announced that it would chair a meeting of G7 leaders on the “global energy situation” later, Friday.

This veiled threat from the US administration represents an escalation of pressure on Europe, while US President Donald Trump seeks to reduce fuel prices in the United States ahead of the midterm congressional elections scheduled for November. Diesel is the primary fuel for the global economy, powering trucks, tractors, freight trains and other commercial vehicles.

The United States is the world's largest exporter of this fuel, and Trump has promoted banning diesel exports as a way to boost domestic supplies and thus lower prices. Analysts told Ufoq News Network that the US ban on diesel exports would severely affect Europe, which is a net importer of the fuel.

Last year, the United States supplied about 13% of the total diesel imports from Europe, the United Kingdom, and Turkey, amounting to 2.3 million barrels per day, according to data from Energy Aspects, a company specializing in market research. But resorting to its emergency reserves may leave Europe at risk of supply disruption if the war in the Middle East and Ukraine continues.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent urged European countries on Thursday to release diesel stocks “immediately,” and previously wrote in a post on the “X” Twitter platform that “American farmers, truck drivers, and companies should not bear the burden of the global diesel shortage.” US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who had previously expressed reservations about banning US diesel exports, told Fox News on Thursday that the United States would “certainly ask” Europe to release diesel from its strategic stockpiles.

He added: "This is the right time to release diesel stocks in a coordinated manner, as we enter the harvest season and the winter heating oil use season. Now is the right time to pump more diesel into the market."

The US-Iran war, which has entered its eighth month, has resulted in the disruption of flows of crude oil and refined petroleum products from the Middle East. Although Europe does not currently suffer from a major supply shortage, global supplies are limited and prices have risen significantly.

Diesel prices in the United States have also risen significantly since the beginning of the war, and last month they exceeded more than $6 per gallon for the first time, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA). The average price was $6.40 per gallon on Friday morning.

Anna Kaisa Itkonen, spokeswoman for the European Commission, told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that member states are in “very close contact” regarding diesel supplies, and that they are also in contact with the US administration. She added: "I assure you that many phone calls and meetings are currently taking place." 'Conflict and competition' Richard Bruns, co-founder of Energy Aspects, said: "The US embargo will lead to Europeans paying higher prices for (imported) diesel...

Because they will compete with other regions that import large quantities of it, such as Latin America.” He added that the United States may be one of several suppliers to Europe, but Washington is an extremely important supplier to the international market, to the point that banning its exports will lead to “conflict and competition between countries over what is left.”

Standard diesel prices in Europe have more than doubled since the start of the US-Iran war in late February, according to Intercontinental Exchange data. What makes the situation worse is the ban on diesel exports from Russia, which Moscow recently extended until the end of October following Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries.

Bruns said there are indications from China that it may tighten restrictions on its exports of petroleum products. EU member states must maintain oil stocks equivalent to 90 days of net imports, but the European Commission does not specify how these stocks will be divided between crude oil, jet fuel, kerosene and diesel.

Matt Stanley, Head of Market Interaction at Kpler, highlighted the dilemma facing Europe and the risks of resorting to emergency reserves in light of an unstable geopolitical environment. “If the underlying disruption persists, the drawdown of stocks cannot continue indefinitely, without eventually leading to a much larger supply problem,” he told Ufoq News.

In March, member states of the International Energy Agency agreed to pump 400 million barrels of oil into the global market, the largest pumping of emergency oil stocks in history, in response to the US-Iran war. But the United States argues that Europe has not met its commitments in that agreement, and Bruns, of Energy Aspects, said the EU has released less than 8% of the total 64 million barrels of oil products — including diesel — it pledged to supply over the spring.