Trump’s energy chief asked Europe to release more than a third of its diesel reserves
BERLIN — The Trump administration has circulated a proposal to European governments asking them to release a large portion of the bloc’s strategic diesel reserves to ease soaring fuel costs, according to four officials in European and U.S. governments.
The plan, put forward by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, was pitched as an alternative to President Donald Trump’s threat of a blanket ban on diesel exports from the U.S.
Under the proposal, EU governments would release 120 million barrels of diesel from their national strategic reserves over 180 days, a government official from a European country told POLITICO. The official, like others in this story, was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the proposal’s details publicly.
That would account for well over a third of the approximately 315 million barrels of diesel EU countries held in reserve as of June this year, according to Eurostat figures. Among EU countries, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland hold the largest reserves of the essential transport fuel.
POLITICO reported Tuesday that the White House was floating the idea of asking the EU to use its diesel reserves to bolster global supply and thus lower prices. A German government official on Thursday confirmed that the United States had contacted Berlin in the matter.
Multiple countries in Europe were approached for a coordinated release, according to a person familiar with the Trump administration’s plans. One major EU member was approached bilaterally in the U.S. last week, according to a senior European energy official.
“It was very hypothetical: ‘What do you think about Europe releasing some of the reserves in order to decrease prices, put pressure on supplies?'” the official said. “‘It could also help our government not to continue the discussion on the export ban.'”
Wright, along with the U.S. oil and gas industry, opposes an export ban on one of the world’s most in-demand petroleum products, and the proposal is seen as an attempt to find an alternative to such a drastic measure.
At a press conference Thursday, Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen wouldn’t confirm whether the EU had received Wright’s request but said that any stock releases would only be agreed through the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based institution which coordinates energy policy among rich countries and oversaw an earlier stock release this year. She added that the Commission was in close contact with EU member countries and Washington.
Meanwhile, President Trump on Wednesday confirmed that a diesel export ban by his administration was still on the table. “I’m thinking about it,” Trump said of the export ban at an Oval Office event. “I speak to [Energy Secretary] Chris [Wright] and [Interior Secretary] Doug [Burgum] about it a lot — they sort of think it’ll help diesel, but it might raise the price of other things.”
Trump declined to rule out restricting diesel shipments. “It’s something that we think about and we talk about every day,” he said. “But it just seems that it would have a negative impact on gasoline, so that would go up a little bit, and diesel would come down a little bit.”
Wright, who was with Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday, said the administration would soon announce measures aimed at bringing down diesel prices. Europe would also be announcing moves to add supply to the market, he said.
“You will hear announcements from our friends in Europe about new diesel supplies that’ll come to the market that’ll meaningfully push diesel prices down,” Wright said.
Ben Lefebvre and James Bikales contributed reporting.
This article has been updated.
