The IEA today said 20mn bl of diesel will be included in the G7-led oil stocks release, but it appears to have withdrawn a timetable for this.
The diesel will be released as soon as possible, the IEA said. When the G7 announced the stocks release 13 days ago, it said a substantial amount of diesel would be made available within 20 days.
The G7 agreement pledged 100mn bl from oil stocks in four months, to complete a stock drawdown that began in March.
Today's announcement suggests half of the diesel release will come in France, which has pledged 10mn bl of the middle distillate from strategic reserves between November and January.
The IEA this week said around 96mn bl of oil is yet to be released from stocks under the March commitment — 46mn bl in Europe, 40mn bl in the Americas and 10mn bl in Asia-Pacific. It did not provide a crude-to-products breakdown. It has also called on its members to consider further releases of diesel.
The intervention has been prompted by a combination of the Iran war and Ukraine's accelerated bombing campaign against Russian refineries in the summer, which it will now resume after a brief pause. These have curtailed around one third of global diesel exports and sent refining margins for middle distillates to above $100/bl. Record-high tanker freight rates present an obstacle to moving diesel from any areas of surplus to regions of acute need.
