Britain in Talks With the EU on Releasing Strategic Fuel Reserves
Britain is discussing with European partners the release of additional strategic fuel reserves, including diesel, if they are needed. The talks follow Donald Trump’s threat to ban American diesel exports to hold down prices at home. British diesel is at a record, hovering just under 200p a litre. The energy minister Martin McCluskey spoke to European counterparts on Thursday.
The exposure is straightforward: the United States exports between 1.2 and 1.5 million barrels of diesel a day, and taking that off the market would push prices up everywhere else, Britain included. Mr Trump said at the weekend that he was “thinking about it very seriously”. A source familiar with Thursday’s discussions said it was prudent to prepare a coordinated response with other countries, and noted that European reserves remain from a joint release earlier this year — which is the reassuring half of the sentence and also a reminder that the stocks have already been drawn on once in 2026. The pressure is compounding rather than isolated: oil rose more than 4% today on news of a third American carrier heading to the Gulf, Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries have forced Moscow to ban its own diesel exports, and Iran and the Houthis have attacked refineries in the Middle East. Watch whether a release is actually triggered, and whether fuel duty survives the Budget.