EU to free up 42.6m barrels of oil following G7 commitment

European Union member states have pledged to accelerate the release of 42.6 million barrels of strategic oil reserves over the coming months, nearly half of which will be diesel, according to Punch.

European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jorgensen disclosed this while speaking to reporters after a meeting. Jorgensen said the relevant member states had reaffirmed their commitment to accelerating the release of the 42.6 million barrels from strategic reserves.

Nearly half of the 42.6 million barrels to be released is diesel. Diesel prices across the EU remain elevated, Xinhua reported. According to the European Commission’s latest Weekly Oil Bulletin, the bloc’s average retail diesel price stood at around 2.15 euros (about 2.4 U.S. dollars) per liter. The pledge follows an earlier stock release agreed in March, when members of the International Energy Agency agreed to release 400 million barrels of emergency oil stocks in response to supply disruptions caused by the conflict in the Middle East.