Trump Claims European Countries Agreed To Release Diesel Stocks To Address Skyrocketing Prices

President Donald Trump claimed on Friday that European countries agreed to release diesel stocks to address soaring prices.

"Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately," Trump said in a social media publication.

Oil prices had begun falling on Friday following reports that the European Union was discussing the possibility following pressure from Trump. They continued their drop following the news, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, hovering around $100 per barrel.

The U.S. proposal called for European countries to release 50 million barrels and International Energy Agency members to release another 50 million, Reuters detailed.

The outlet had also noted that the Trump administration warned Germany and France they could face a diesel export ban if they didn't tap their emergency inventories. One person based in a European capital said Washington had asked the European Union to release 120 million barrels of diesel over the next six months.

The discussions represented the latest U.S. effort to get allies to tap emergency energy supplies as diesel prices remain elevated and disruptions have tightened global markets.

The U.S. Department of Energy said Sept. 29 that it had opened an exchange of up to 40 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, part of a previously announced 172 million-barrel U.S. release coordinated with International Energy Agency members. The broader IEA commitment totals 400 million barrels.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the United States and Japan were delivering on their commitments but several European members had released only a fraction of the crude oil and petroleum products they had pledged.

The talks come only days after the European Commission said EU oil supplies remained stable but acknowledged that diesel and jet-fuel prices were high because of tight global markets.

Commercial stocks in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub were below their five-year average, although they had stabilized in recent weeks, the Commission said after a Sept. 29 meeting of its Oil Coordination Group. European refineries were also operating at close to maximum capacity.

The Commission said emergency stocks remained at high levels and were available if a market disruption required their use.

Earlier in September, the European Commission said there was no immediate oil-supply problem within the EU, with demand for diesel and jet fuel being met through higher European refinery output and alternative global supplies. It cautioned that instability in the Middle East and seasonal demand could further tighten markets.

European countries also maintain emergency inventories under international stockholding rules. The International Energy Agency requires member countries that are net oil importers to maintain stocks equal to at least 90 days of net imports and to be prepared to participate in coordinated responses to major supply disruptions. Those reserves can include both crude oil and refined products such as diesel.