Oil Prices Drop After Trump Pressure Pushes Europe Toward Releasing Diesel Reserves

Oil prices fell Friday after a report that European countries were weighing a large release of emergency fuel stocks under pressure from the Trump administration.

France proposed that European Union (EU) countries release 50 million barrels of diesel, with International Energy Agency (IEA) members adding 50 million barrels of crude oil, Reuters reported Friday, citing an anonymous source familiar with the discussions. Brent crude for December delivery fell 2.5 percent to $99.78 a barrel Friday morning, while West Texas Intermediate for November dropped 3.7 percent to $89.42, CNBC reported.

A spokesperson for French Economy Minister Roland Lescure dismissed the proposal as “rumors,” POLITICO reported.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an X post Thursday that European partners should speed up their existing commitments and make more supplies available immediately.

American farmers, truckers and businesses “should not be left carrying the burden of a global diesel shortage,” he wrote.

The Treasury Department and the Delegation of the European Union to the United States did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

Diesel averaged $6.37 a gallon nationwide Friday, compared with $6.50 the previous week and $3.70 a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

The Trump administration had told France and Germany to draw down their emergency diesel inventories or face a potential U.S. export ban, according to a Reuters report Thursday.

The U.S. supplied about half of the EU’s diesel imports in August, according to IEA figures cited by CNBC.