EU Countries Pledge To Release 42.6 Million Barrels Of Oil To Ease Supply Concerns

European Union countries, including France and Germany, pledged on Thursday to release a combined 42.6 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves by the end of January 2027 to ease global energy supply concerns, AFP reported.

The pledge follows a G7 agreement reached earlier this month to release additional oil stocks.

The other signatories named are Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. Lithuania also endorsed the initiative but did not sign the joint pledge.

“EU member states have reaffirmed their commitment to an accelerated release of 42.6 million barrels from strategic reserves over the next months, and around half of this will be diesel,” EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen told reporters, according to AFP.

The planned release includes 20.5 million barrels of diesel.

The announcement comes weeks after G7 economies agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil following U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a diesel export ban.

The International Energy Agency called in mid-October for its members to accelerate the release of oil stocks ahead of winter.

Trump increased pressure on Europe to release reserves after the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran drove up energy prices. Higher fuel costs have become a key domestic issue ahead of next week’s U.S. congressional elections.

The European Commission said it was taking the crisis’s impact on households seriously, although it did not anticipate supply shortages.

“We do not expect the security of supply issue as such. But for the citizens who are struggling to pay the bills, that might not matter,” Jorgensen said.