By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS, Oct 7 (Reuters) – The governing board of the International Energy Agency will hold an informal meeting at 1300 local time (1100 GMT) on Wednesday to discuss a proposed release of oil and diesel stocks, two European Union diplomats said.
The representatives of EU nations had already discussed the proposed release at a meeting on Wednesday morning, added the diplomats.
A surge in diesel prices has turned the fuel, which underpins trucking, agriculture and industry, into a global political and economic concern. The wars in Iran and Ukraine have curtailed exports and damaged refineries, helping drive a rise in prices.
The Group of 7 countries agreed last week to a 100 million barrel release of crude and diesel after US President Donald Trump warned some European countries that if they did not release more diesel, the US would ban diesel exports.
The G7 includes the US, UK, Japan and Canada, along with EU nations France, Germany and Italy.
It was not immediately clear if the G7 agreement would simply release the remaining share of an IEA-coordinated 400-million-barrel release countries had committed to in March, or add extra volumes on top of this.
Germany’s economy ministry said it was working on the approval of the release of energy reserves, and will participate in the issuing of volumes already set by the IEA in March.
March’s move, prompted by the Iran war, was the biggest emergency stock release ever.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Additional reporting by Holger Hansen; Writing by Nina Chestney; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Jan Harvey)
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