Oil prices fell on Friday after European governments agreed to release emergency diesel reserves, bringing additional supplies onto a market strained by disruption in the Middle East and shortages of refined fuel.
Brent crude futures fell $1.80, or 1.76 per cent, to $100.50 a barrel during trading on 2 October, while US West Texas Intermediate dropped $2.02, or 2.18 per cent, to $90.85, according to market data reported during Friday’s trading.
The fall came as the Group of Seven agreed to release 100 million barrels of oil and petroleum products from emergency stocks over four months. The package includes a substantial release of diesel during the first 20 days.
The G7 leaders’ statement on energy security and market stability said the releases would be co-ordinated through the International Energy Agency and would take account of commitments already made earlier this year. G7 governments will also discuss whether additional diesel releases are required.
The agreement marks a rapid development from the negotiations reported earlier on Friday. As EU Today reported before the G7 meeting, Washington had been pressing European governments, particularly France and Germany, to make more of their strategic diesel stocks available.
President Donald Trump had also raised the possibility of restricting US diesel exports as his administration sought to reduce domestic fuel prices. Such a restriction would have had significant consequences for Europe because the United States has become an important supplier of diesel to the European market.
A French proposal discussed by EU governments earlier on Friday envisaged European countries releasing around 50 million barrels of diesel, alongside another 50 million barrels of crude oil from International Energy Agency members.
The eventual G7 agreement also addresses the risk of export restrictions directly. The seven governments committed themselves to avoiding restrictions on energy and energy-product exports between G7 countries and called on other producers to refrain from measures that could worsen market shortages.
For Europe, the intervention comes as diesel supplies remain physically available but prices are being pushed higher by tight conditions on international markets.
The European Commission’s Energy Union Task Force met on Friday to examine diesel supplies and prices. The Commission said EU diesel supplies remained stable for the time being, but acknowledged that prices were high because of tight global markets.
The latest intervention follows a much larger emergency action earlier this year. In March, the International Energy Agency agreed its largest-ever co-ordinated stock release, making 400 million barrels available after the Middle East conflict severely disrupted international oil markets.
Europe’s contribution to that March operation consisted largely of refined petroleum products rather than crude oil, reflecting the particular pressure facing the continent’s fuel markets.
The pressure is part of a wider European energy problem. EU Today reported this week that the Middle East conflict has added more than €100 billion to Europe’s energy import bill, despite the continent receiving no corresponding increase in the physical amount of oil and gas purchased.
European governments have already committed €17.9 billion this year to measures intended to protect households and businesses from the rise in energy costs, according to an EU Today assessment of national support measures.
Diesel represents a particular vulnerability. It remains essential for road freight, agriculture, construction and large parts of European industry, meaning sustained increases in wholesale prices can feed into transport and production costs across the economy.
The present shortage also reflects changes in Europe’s refining sector. Refining capacity has fallen over the past two decades as plants have closed, increasing dependence on imported diesel and other refined petroleum products. That dependence has become more visible since the EU sharply reduced purchases of Russian fuel following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The G7 nevertheless made clear that the emergency intervention would not be accompanied by a relaxation of measures against Moscow. Leaders said they would maintain sanctions against Russia while working with the IEA and other partners to limit the effect of market disruption on fuel and commodity prices.
The EU has separately continued to tighten measures targeting Russia’s energy revenues and its so-called shadow fleet, including restrictions connected with the maritime transport of Russian oil and petroleum products. The EU’s latest sanctions package targeting Russian energy revenues was adopted in July.
Friday’s fall in oil and diesel futures indicates that traders expect the additional stocks to relieve some of the immediate pressure on supplies. European gasoil futures, the main regional diesel benchmark, also fell sharply during the day as details of the proposed releases emerged.
The G7 has asked the IEA to monitor implementation and report within 20 days, including on whether further action is required and how emergency stocks should eventually be replenished.
For Europe, the immediate objective is to contain diesel prices without compromising security of supply. The broader issue remains unchanged: reduced domestic refining capacity and heavy dependence on imported fuel leave the European economy exposed when international supply routes are disrupted.
The Trump administration has urged France and Germany to release diesel from their strategic stocks, while raising the possibility of restricting American diesel exports if European governments fail to put additional supplies on the market.
Washington has asked Europe to release about 120 million barrels over six months, according to people familiar with the talks.
The demand puts European governments in a difficult position. Releasing reserves could help reduce prices in the short term, but it would also reduce the emergency buffer available if disruption to Russian or Middle Eastern supplies becomes more severe.
The European Commission, France, Italy, Ireland and Britain held discussions on 1 October over possible diesel stock releases. Germany has been involved separately in discussions with Washington.
France and Germany hold a substantial share of Europe’s emergency diesel reserves.
Under the EU’s Oil Stocks Directive, member states must maintain emergency crude oil or petroleum-product stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net imports or 61 days of domestic consumption, whichever is higher.
The requirement exists to provide a buffer against major supply interruptions rather than normal market fluctuations.
Europe’s dependence on imported oil remains substantial. Oil accounted for around 38 per cent of the EU energy mix in 2024, while approximately 95 per cent of crude oil consumed in the bloc was imported.
The latest dispute follows months of mounting pressure in the diesel market.
EU Today reported in September that President Donald Trump had urged Ukraine to reduce attacks on Russian refining infrastructure as global diesel supplies tightened.
Moscow has since extended restrictions on diesel exports. At the same time, disruption to Middle Eastern refining and shipping has constrained another major source of supply, while China moved on 1 October to suspend most fuel-product exports outside Hong Kong and Macau.
The result has been a particularly sharp problem for Europe because its refining capacity has declined over the past two decades and it has become increasingly dependent on imported middle distillates.
European dependence on outside energy supplies was already becoming more expensive before the latest diesel shortage. Recent Eurostat figures showed that the value of EU petroleum-oil imports increased by 55.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, even though the physical volume imported rose by only 1.2 per cent.
The United States has become an increasingly important diesel supplier since Europe sharply reduced imports of Russian refined products following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
That means a US export restriction would have an immediate impact on the European market.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said after discussions with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that Brussels wanted a coordinated transatlantic approach to lowering diesel prices.
He said restrictions on US diesel exports would damage Europe’s economic performance and that both sides had agreed to remain in close contact.
Šefčovič also noted that the EU had exceeded its commitment to purchase US energy under the trade agreement reached at Turnberry in 2025.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, meanwhile, said he was “highly confident” European governments would release additional stocks.
Wright argued that coordinated action was particularly important as the northern hemisphere moved into the harvest season and towards winter, when demand for diesel and heating fuels normally increases.
Emergency releases have already been used on an exceptional scale this year.
In March, the 32 members of the International Energy Agency agreed to make 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves available to the market after disruption caused by the Middle East conflict.
It was the largest coordinated stock release in the organisation’s history.
A further European release would therefore come only months after governments had already drawn on strategic reserves to stabilise markets.
The pressure is increasing as oil prices again move higher. Brent crude settled above $102 a barrel on 1 October amid concerns over Chinese fuel exports and further US military deployments to the Middle East.
EU energy officials are now considering whether the immediate risk of high diesel prices outweighs the value of keeping fuel in reserve against a potentially more serious supply disruption later in the year.
Speaking ahead of an informal meeting of EU energy ministers in Dublin, Jørgensen said Europe had “surpassed €100 billion” in additional spending.
“We have now surpassed €100 billion that we’ve paid extra for our energy this year without receiving one extra molecule of gas or oil,” he said in the European Commission’s recording of his remarks.
The figure puts a direct cost on the price shock which has followed disruption to oil and liquefied natural gas supplies associated with the conflict involving Iran.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted one of the world’s most important energy corridors. Under normal conditions, the waterway handles roughly one fifth of globally traded oil and significant LNG volumes.
Europe remains heavily exposed because most of the oil it consumes and about 80 per cent of its gas requirements come from outside the EU.
The consequences were already visible in trade figures published before the latest ministerial meeting.
Last week, EU Today reported that the EU’s oil import bill had risen 55.8 per cent in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, even though the physical volume of crude imported increased by only 1.2 per cent.
Europe was therefore paying substantially more without materially increasing the amount of energy it purchased.
The pressure has intensified as winter approaches.
EU gas storage is around 70 per cent full, roughly 12 percentage points below the level recorded at the same stage last year. Jørgensen has warned governments to continue filling storage or consider reducing demand if required.
Possible measures include limiting temperatures in public buildings, restricting outdoor heating and switching off unnecessary public lighting, according to recommendations circulated to governments ahead of the Dublin meeting.
The informal meeting of EU energy ministers focused on energy affordability, security of supply and Europe’s continuing exposure to international fossil-fuel markets.
Irish Energy Minister Darragh O’Brien described the situation as the second major fossil-fuel shock Europe had faced in four years and argued that domestic clean-energy production was essential if the EU wanted to reduce its vulnerability to future crises.
Europe is in a stronger physical position than during the 2022 energy crisis.
It has expanded LNG import infrastructure, increased renewable electricity generation and reduced gas demand. It has also sharply reduced its dependence on Russian pipeline gas.
But that restructuring has created different dependencies.
European buyers now compete more directly for LNG on global markets, meaning events in the Gulf, Asia or the United States can rapidly affect the price paid by European consumers.
EU Today reported earlier this month that reduced LNG availability and disruption around Hormuz had left European gas storage at historically weak seasonal levels.
Diesel presents another problem.
Europe became more dependent on imported refined products after reducing purchases from Russia, with the United States now supplying approximately half of EU diesel imports.
Washington has considered restrictions on diesel exports as domestic US prices rise. European officials have urged the Trump administration not to introduce such measures, warning that they would increase pressure on international markets.
Emergency reserves provide some protection.
EU countries are required to maintain strategic oil stocks, while the International Energy Agency coordinated a release of 400 million barrels from member-country reserves earlier this year.
France and Germany hold a particularly large share of Europe’s strategic diesel inventories. Further releases remain possible if international markets deteriorate, although no new coordinated decision has yet been taken.
The current crisis is also feeding into the EU’s longer-term energy debate.
Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg are now pressing for an EU renewable-energy target for 2040, arguing that increasing domestic electricity generation would reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.
The security argument extends beyond climate policy. An EU Today Research Desk paper published in June examined how concentrated fossil-fuel supply routes and maritime chokepoints can transmit geopolitical shocks into European prices, infrastructure and industry.
The current disruption provides a practical example.
Europe has not bought substantially more fuel, but it is paying tens of billions of euros more because the international price of the energy it imports has risen.
The immediate concern is whether supplies and gas inventories will be sufficient through the coming winter without another sharp increase in prices.
The longer-term question is how much of Europe’s energy demand can be moved away from imported fossil fuels before another geopolitical crisis produces the same result.
For EU governments, Jørgensen’s €100 billion figure provides a measure of the cost of that dependency.
È vero che il prezzo alla pompa sale rapidamente e scende lentamente di fronte a uno shock. Ma è un fenomeno che si riassorbe in pochi giorni. È poi un settore più trasparente di altri. E anche più reattivo nel passaggio tra ingrosso e dettaglio.
L'articolo Prezzo della benzina tra percezione e realtà proviene da Lavoce.info.
Ogni giorno dalle 8.30 del mattino, QuiFinanza vi informa sul costo dei carburanti in tutte le regioni italiane. Il costo medio attuale è di 2.029 per la benzina, 2.260 per il diesel, 0.797 per il gpl, 1.977 per il metano. Per sapere il prezzo esatto nella tua regione scorri in basso per tutti i dettagli di costo. Il costo medio si riferisce al prezzo mostrato dai distributori di carburanti presenti sulle strade comunali, provinciali e statali.
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Abruzzo.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.253 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.032 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.781 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.927 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Basilicata.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.311 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.073 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.774 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.881 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella provincia autonoma di Bolzano.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.267 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.043 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.868 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.961 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Calabria.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.292 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.054 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.820 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.947 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Campania.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.290 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.062 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.748 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.855 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Emilia Romagna.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.252 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.020 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.769 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.960 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Friuli Venezia Giulia.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.260 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.024 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.765 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 2.067 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Lazio.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.244 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.018 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.764 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.986 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Liguria.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.239 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.007 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.863 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.973 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Lombardia.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.247 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.011 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.764 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.904 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Marche.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.241 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.018 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.795 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.996 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Molise.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.274 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.040 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.807 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.947 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Piemonte.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.250 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.014 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.759 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.939 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Puglia.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.275 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.043 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.761 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.941 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Sardegna.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.253 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.025 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.863 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Sicilia.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.271 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.037 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.812 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 2.113 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Toscana.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.249 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.022 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.779 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 2.048 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella provincia autonoma di Trento.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.248 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.025 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.806 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 2.130 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Umbria.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.243 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.021 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.791 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 2.015 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Valle d’Aosta.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.256 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.013 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.869 |
Questo è il prezzo di benzina, diesel, gpl e metano di oggi 22 ottobre 2026 nella regione Veneto.
| TIPOLOGIA | EROGAZIONE | PREZZO MEDIO |
| Gasolio | SELF | 2.251 |
| Benzina | SELF | 2.019 |
| GPL | SERVITO | 0.780 |
| Metano | SERVITO | 1.985 |
Fonte: Osservatorio prezzi Mimit
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