US demands Germany and France release diesel reserves or face fuel export ban

US pressure on European emergency reserves

The administration of US President Donald Trump has called on Germany and France to draw down their emergency diesel reserves to counter high global fuel prices. Officials in Washington have threatened to impose an export ban on American diesel if European governments decline to release stockpiles, according to people familiar with the discussions reported on 1 October 2026. The United States wants the European Union to release 120 million barrels of diesel over the next six months. This request builds on a prior agreement reached by the International Energy Agency in March, under which member states agreed to release approximately 400 million barrels of emergency reserves worldwide. Under that March framework, the US committed 172 million barrels while EU countries pledged to provide 20% of the total volume. European Union authorities did not immediately comment on the demands from Washington.

Middle East conflict and refining constraints

The pressure on diesel supplies follows long-term structural shifts across Europe alongside acute geopolitical disruptions. The European Union has sought to eliminate its reliance on Russian fuel following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, but two decades of domestic refinery closures left the continent dependent on transatlantic imports. Shipping routes from the Middle East have faced severe disruption due to the war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran. Because European refiners cannot fully satisfy regional diesel consumption, threats to curtail US exports create acute supply vulnerabilities. Rising global prices have also blunted the financial benefits of reduced fuel imports across the continent.

German domestic refining and import drops

Federal data published on Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden shows that German refineries expanded fuel output during the first half of 2026 to offset falling imports. Domestic refineries manufactured 15.8 million tonnes of diesel between January and June, marking a 9.4% rise compared with the same period in 2025. Motor petrol production climbed 1.8% to reach 11 million tonnes. The extra domestic production, amounting to 1.4 million additional tonnes of diesel and 200,000 tonnes of petrol, counterbalanced steep reductions in incoming shipments. German petrol imports fell 23% to 525,000 tonnes, while diesel imports dropped 23.9% to between 858,000 and 868,000 tonnes.

Price spikes, fuel trade, and fiscal trends

Although import volumes fell by 157,000 tonnes for petrol and 262,000 tonnes for diesel, high global market prices kept import bills elevated. Germany spent 479 million euros on imported petrol, a decline of only 2.5% in value, while the cost of imported diesel rose 5.8% to 845 million euros despite the volume drop. Simultaneously, the market value of German-produced petrol rose 16.7% to 2.9 billion euros in the first half of the year, while the value of domestically produced diesel surged 42.4% to 4.5 billion euros. German fuel exports diverged, with petrol shipments dropping 3.5% to 1.66 million tonnes while diesel exports rose 18.7% to 1.74 million tonnes. In 2025, German energy tax revenue reached 15.5 billion euros from 23.7 billion litres of petrol and 17.8 billion euros from 37.9 billion litres of diesel, amid a broader 2010–2025 decline in total fossil fuel use.