G7 agrees 100m-barrel oil release with diesel first

G7 leaders agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products over four months, with a substantial amount of diesel due to reach the market within the first 20 days.

The agreement followed a virtual leaders’ meeting chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron. The coordinated release is to begin immediately through the International Energy Agency (IEA), according to the joint statement published by the British government on 2 October.

The statement links the operation to the implementation of commitments made in March 2026, taking account of volumes already released. It does not describe the 100 million barrels as an additional allocation on top of all earlier pledges.

Leaders also agreed to coordinate refinery maintenance to avoid plants shutting down simultaneously, and to raise utilisation temporarily where possible. They called for engagement with other major refining countries to increase production, particularly diesel.

The group reaffirmed that its members would avoid restrictions on energy exports to one another. It urged other producers to refrain from export bans that could increase pressure on markets.

Further discussions through the IEA are planned in the coming days to consider whether more diesel should be released. The agency was asked to assess the measures and provide a follow-up report within 20 days, including recommendations on replenishing stocks.

For South Africa, the decision concerns international markets that feed into domestic fuel costs. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources says local pricing calculations take international petroleum-product prices and the rand-dollar exchange rate into account, alongside domestic taxes, levies and other charges.

South Africa’s regulated petrol price is adjusted monthly using prices averaged over an earlier period. Diesel’s retail price is not regulated, although a wholesale price is published. Friday’s G7 announcement therefore does not itself set a new South African pump price or establish the size of any future local adjustment.

File photograph: the Cape Town oil refinery in 2012, illustrating the fuel sector. Photo: Discott / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Display crops remain under the same licence.