President Donald Trump has ruled out a ban on US diesel exports, reversing course days after threatening the measure to pressure Europe into releasing emergency fuel stocks. The reversal came hours after the Group of Seven agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels of crude oil and diesel from emergency reserves.
Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for Alabama that Washington would not impose the export ban. "We were never going to do it," he said — even though he had said several times in the past two weeks that such a ban was under consideration.
The G7 deal
After a video conference of G7 leaders chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, the group said in a joint statement that it would implement a coordinated release through the International Energy Agency of 100 million barrels. The release begins immediately and lasts four months, with a "substantial diesel release" within the first 20 days.
The G7 also pledged to refrain from energy export restrictions among members and to coordinate refinery maintenance schedules to avoid simultaneous capacity shutdowns.
The Iran war had already triggered the biggest emergency stock release ever — 400 million barrels in March, coordinated by the IEA. IEA executive director Fatih Birol said this week that members had released about two-thirds of that agreement.
Why diesel matters
Global diesel prices hit a record last Friday, with the average US price at $6.50 a gallon, up from $5.61 a month earlier, according to the American Automobile Association. That is a jump of 70 percent since before the war began, and US diesel inventories sit at their lowest seasonal level since records began in 1982.
"While gasoline fuels cars, diesel fuels anything from trucks, freight trains, ships, tractors, harvesters, construction machinery, mining equipment and backup generators," said Frederic Schneider of the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. A diesel price shock, he warned, spreads into the price of almost everything else — most prominently food and building materials.
The White House is reportedly preparing an executive order to tackle record-high diesel prices that could be unveiled as early as next week, according to Reuters.
Sources: Al Jazeera: G7 to release 100 million barrels of oil and diesel, will it curb prices?
Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for Alabama that Washington would not impose the export ban. "We were never going to do it," he said — even though he had said several times in the past two weeks that such a ban was under consideration.
The G7 deal
After a video conference of G7 leaders chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, the group said in a joint statement that it would implement a coordinated release through the International Energy Agency of 100 million barrels. The release begins immediately and lasts four months, with a "substantial diesel release" within the first 20 days.
The G7 also pledged to refrain from energy export restrictions among members and to coordinate refinery maintenance schedules to avoid simultaneous capacity shutdowns.
The Iran war had already triggered the biggest emergency stock release ever — 400 million barrels in March, coordinated by the IEA. IEA executive director Fatih Birol said this week that members had released about two-thirds of that agreement.
Why diesel matters
Global diesel prices hit a record last Friday, with the average US price at $6.50 a gallon, up from $5.61 a month earlier, according to the American Automobile Association. That is a jump of 70 percent since before the war began, and US diesel inventories sit at their lowest seasonal level since records began in 1982.
"While gasoline fuels cars, diesel fuels anything from trucks, freight trains, ships, tractors, harvesters, construction machinery, mining equipment and backup generators," said Frederic Schneider of the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. A diesel price shock, he warned, spreads into the price of almost everything else — most prominently food and building materials.
The White House is reportedly preparing an executive order to tackle record-high diesel prices that could be unveiled as early as next week, according to Reuters.
Sources: Al Jazeera: G7 to release 100 million barrels of oil and diesel, will it curb prices?
