BRUSSELS — The International Energy Agency and European Union on Wednesday were discussing an oil and diesel stocks release proposed last week with diplomats and analysts expecting it to include volumes pledged in March. War with Iran and Ukraine has damaged refineries and disrupted tanker traffic, helping send diesel prices to record highs and impacting inflation and sectors including trucking and agriculture. Group of Seven countries agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels after President Donald Trump warned he might ban U.S. diesel exports if they did not put more of the fuel into the market. It remains unclear how much diesel and how much crude oil will be released. On Wednesday, IEA countries met to discuss the plan, as did the EU’s oil co-ordination group, diplomats said. The EU’s energy task force was scheduled to hold a call at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT), a European Commission spokesperson said. The G7 includes EU members France, Germany and Italy along with the U.S., U.K., Japan and Canada. Extent of new volume not clear The IEA advises industrialized countries and coordinates their emergency oil stocks for use during major supply disruptions. Polish Energy Minister Milosz Motyka said on Wednesday that Poland was ready to release oil and diesel stocks if a consensus is reached, but he did not expect an IEA decision on this on Wednesday. In March, the IEA announced a record release of 400 million barrels of oil from strategic stockpiles to combat a spike in crude prices and supply losses. Of this, about 325 million barrels have so far been released, the IEA said on Friday. EU countries expect the remaining 75 million barrels to count towards the new 100-million-barrel plan, two EU diplomats said. JP Morgan analysts also said much of the release in Friday’s announcement would represent the completion of the March release. “Our interpretation of the press release is that the headline 100 million barrels does not represent 100 million barrels of new intervention,” the bank said in a report. Germany’s economy ministry said it was working on the approval of the release of energy reserves without mentioning any new amount. “Germany will participate in the further release of the volume already determined by the IEA in March,” the ministry said in a statement. --- Reporting by Kate Abnett and Holger Hansen; Additional reporting by Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw; writing by Nina Chestney and Alex Lawler; editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Jan Harvey and Joe Bavier and Jason Neely
