Image source, Reuters

Leaders of the G7 nations have agreed to release up to 100 million barrels of oil and diesel in a bid to ease supply pressures that have caused prices to skyrocket.

It comes after diesel hit record highs in the UK, reaching £2 a litre for the first time ever, as conflict in the Middle East continues to push up the cost of fuel.

One worker, from Buckinghamshire, told the BBC he was spending an extra £500 a month on diesel as a result of the surging prices, while a charity said it may have to reduce aid shipments due to delivery costs.

US President Donald Trump, who has previously put pressure on Europe to release fuel reserves, warned he would ban US diesel exports if European countries did not agree to put more of their own stocks onto the market.

Following a meeting of G7 leaders, Trump told reporters outside the White House this evening that he would not impose the export ban, adding that Europe will be "making a major world contribution, and so are we".

In the UK, while diesel prices are at record levels, analysts say an actual shortage is highly unlikely, reports our business correspondent Theo Leggett.

We're ending our live coverage, but you can read more here:

• G7 to release 100 million barrels of oil and diesel after Trump export ban threat
• UK diesel prices top £2 a litre for first time, RAC says

The US president seems to have got his way, chief North America correspondent Gary O'Donaghue reports.

Image source, Reuters

US President Donald Trump has said there will not be a US export ban on diesel.

It comes after he initially threatened to ban diesel exports - to bring US prices down - unless Europe agreed to release its fuel reserves.

Following a meeting of G7 leaders this afternoon, the group agreed to release 100 million barrels of their energy reserves to ease supply pressures that have caused prices to skyrocket.

Speaking to reporters at the White House this evening, Trump said: "We're not going to be doing the export ban", adding that Europe will be "making a major world contribution, and so are we".

Naj Modak
BBC North West reporter

Image source, BBC/Thomas Dunn

Rising diesel prices have left a family-run transport company paying about an extra £67,000 in fuel since the Iran conflict began in February.

British Blue Tours in Birkenhead on the Wirral, Merseyside, has also delayed adding an extra vehicle to their fleet to try and recoup the money.

The firm "would like more reassurances" that there will be no fuel shortage and it can continue to operate.

Traffic manager, Rob Jones, says: "Due to our work commitments and contracts, we're not able to recoup any sort of additional costs back from our customers."

"We do factor in fuel cost increases, but we just weren't expecting them to hit such highs," he says.

Jones adds that for a small family run business the "significant" hike in costs comes out of their profits.

"That's money that goes towards updating the fleet, which is why we've obviously had to push back on our new vehicle."

Image source, BBC/Thomas Dunn

Image source, Reuters

As fuel prices increase, people across Europe are also feeling the impact on their daily lives.

The manager of Peter & Krebs, a heating oil supplier in Berlin, says "people are stunned" by rising prices.

"Naturally, they try to negotiate every possible discount," Adrian Peter tells Reuters news agency. "But wholesale purchasing costs are extremely high, and we have no choice but to pass those costs on."

Peter says he's also noticing that many customers are no longer filling their tanks completely.

"Instead, they are only ordering enough to get by, opting for half-load deliveries or much smaller orders than usual," he explains.

A customer, Burkhard Seidler, comments: “To be honest, it's an absolute shock. We're simply shocked. Why should 100 litres of heating oil cost 160 euros?”

In the US, diesel is a fuel for businesses, and people have felt the pinchpublished at 20:20 BST 2 October

20:20 BST 2 October

Samira Hussain
New York business correspondent

If you look in the US, we've been seeing record high diesel prices for the last couple of weeks - and if you compare today to this time last year, prices are up some 70%.

So the idea is that the G7 will start releasing some of that oil and - hopefully - it will bring down prices.

The Trump administration is looking at midterm elections about a month away now, and they're getting nervous because they are hearing from their constituents, and from their officials that are up for re-election, that the price of gasoline and the price of diesel is really high.

It's important to recognise the importance of diesel - as it's the fuel for business. Food production, for example, relies on those big tractors used on farms, which are fuelled by diesel.

And it is now costing farmers thousands of dollars more to fill up their vehicles.

The cascading impact is that food prices are going to get higher, and that's in addition to the inflationary pressures we've seen in the last few months.

Tom Espiner
Business reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Diesel is used to power heavy machinery such as lorries, tractors, vans, boats and diggers.

It appeals to people such as lorry drivers, farmers and fishermen because it packs more punch than petrol and has more pulling power at lower speeds.

Farmers use red diesel, which is essentially diesel dyed red, as their main energy source, external. It’s cheaper than road diesel because it’s taxed less.

The amount of diesel used in the UK rose between 1990 and 2025, while petrol use fell, according to the RAC Foundation, external.

Burning diesel generally produces more pollutants that affect human health.

Crude oil is a finite resource found in the Earth’s crust. It is a type of fossil fuel – the remains of organisms that lived and died millions of years ago.

Petrol and diesel are both produced from crude oil. One of the main differences between them is their boiling points. Petrol’s boiling point ranges from about 40C to 205C, while diesel’s is higher, generally at 160C to 350C.

Diesel is generally used in heavy vehicles because diesel engines provide greater low-speed torque and efficiency. Meanwhile, petrol engines may deliver higher peak power, which is why petrol is used in lighter vehicles.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, one barrel of oil, which is 42 gallons (159 litres), can produce about 19-20 gallons of petrol and 11-13 gallons of diesel.

Theo Leggett
International business correspondent

Diesel prices are at record levels, but analysts say an actual shortage is highly unlikely.

The UK has four refineries, which together produce about half of what we use. The rest comes from abroad. Those refineries could produce more diesel than they currently do - although imports would still be needed.

The UK also has stocks of gasoil, which includes diesel, that are higher than this time last year. But if supplies do get tighter, what’s known as demand destruction comes into play.

Put simply, people will choose to travel less, because it costs too much. That frees up supplies, because there is less demand. So the pumps are unlikely to dry up.

As Benedict George of industry expert Argus Media puts it: "There is enough diesel, if you pay the market price".

A US export ban, he thinks, would accelerate this process by pushing up prices significantly.

There is always the possibility of individual garages running out of fuel because of panic buying, as we have seen in the past. If people think there is a shortage, they can rapidly create one.

But the prospect of supplies actually running out looks remote at the moment.

Bernadette McCague
Your Voice

Image source, Supplied

Kaine travels from north Manchester to his job in Preston 60 miles (97km) away.

He tells us that rising fuel prices mean that his job is now actually costing him money.

“How far does this have to go,” he asks.

"I can barely afford to travel to work but there's nothing in place to make employers contribute. I could easily work from home but they refuse this, so I still have to commute 60 miles per day.

"My job is now actually costing me money - I'd never take on work that was putting me out of pocket if I was freelance, would I,” he says.

The average price of diesel has risen above £2 a litre in the UK for the first time, according to the RAC motoring group, with petrol also soaring to 174.71p a litre on average.

In the video below, BBC business editor Simon Jack explains the rising prices - and how oil prices around the world affect the cost of petrol and diesel at the pump.

Image source, Getty Images

Oil prices are "starting to fall" after a decision to release 100 million barrels of energy reserves, International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol has said.

"We took a step today on diesel. We held a meeting with world leaders and announced that we would start releasing 100 million barrels of oil again," Birol says, according to the Reuters news agency.

"I hope this will be a beneficial step both for the world and for Turkey," he adds, while speaking at a press meeting in Istanbul.

Trump seems to have got his way with Europepublished at 18:03 BST 2 October

18:03 BST 2 October

Gary O'Donoghue
Chief North America correspondent, reporting from Washington DC

Donald Trump threatened a ban on diesel exports – to bring prices down - unless Europe agreed to release its reserves.

He seems to have got his way, making the export ban now less likely.

Average diesel prices in America are well over $6 a gallon - up around 70% from before the Iran war.

It's one of the sharpest increases in a fuel that powers the trucks, tractors and machinery underpinning the US economy.

And now if prices start to fall, that could prove highly helpful for him in the upcoming midterm elections – where some normally safe key Midwest states were starting to punish Republicans for high prices across the board.

Image source, Getty Images

Adam Bell, a former energy adviser to the government, says a lot of the UK's refining capacity has closed down over the last few years.

"The rate at which you can use diesel depends on how fast you can convert oil into diesel," he tells BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

The UK has "traditionally had a reasonably large refining industry" but capacity has "closed down over the last few years as energy prices have risen", he says.

There has also been less oil coming out of the North Sea, he continues, which means the UK's ability to convert oil into diesel domestically is significantly lower.

"We have to import more refined products than we would historically have had to," he continues.

Bell effectively rules out the possibility of shortages, saying the UK is "almost certainly completely safe" as it will "just keep importing more".

But "we'll be paying through the nose for it", he says.

The effects will also be felt at the supermarket, as we rely on heavy goods vehicles to bring food into towns and run agricultural vehicles, he continues.

Image source, Getty Images

AA president Edmund King says the G7's decision to release 100 million barrels of energy reserves "will hopefully settle the nerves in the global fuel markets" and bring prices down.

"The global uncertainty from the conflict in the Middle East and demands from the US president have already affected fuel prices but hopefully the markets will now see sense," he says.

King advises shopping around to find the best price, saying AA analysis shows price differences of "between 6-10p [per] litre within close distances".

He adds the government could help by "getting rid of the proposed 5p fuel duty increase and cutting another 5p off duty".

Fuel duty was frozen under the Conservatives in March 2022 and Keir Starmer's government continued the freeze, which is currently due to come to an end on 31 December 2026.

Rob Trigg
Political reporter, BBC Shropshire

Record-breaking fuel prices have left a firm teaching people to drive lorries and buses having to "ride out" the rising cost of filling up its vehicles.

Steve Dulson, managing director of Shropshire-based Dulson Training, says it is costing hundreds of pounds more to fill up each lorry compared with last year’s prices.

"Over the last 12 months we've seen a rise of up to 50p a litre, excluding VAT, and it's hard to react to that because of how we deal with our customers," he says.

"Our customers have usually been in our pipeline for some time, taking medicals, applying for provisional [licences] or taking theory tests.

"So by the time they've got to their practical training, and the fuel prices have increased, they've already been quoted.

"That makes it difficult for us to put prices up."

You can read more on the problems Steve and his firm are facing here.

Image source, Reuters

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says she welcomes the G7's decision "not to impose any export bans on allies" for energy products.

"Our citizens need and deserve affordable energy," she writes on X, adding the group will closely co-ordinate to achieve this goal.

Von der Leyen adds that the EU supports the International Energy Agency (IEA)-coordinated release of fuel stocks.

Image source, Reuters

Here’s more details from the G7 leaders' statement, issued after a virtual meeting on Friday where the group decided to release 100 million barrels of energy reserves.

The group says it has "agreed on decisive, coordinated measures to stabilize immediate energy supplies, shield households and businesses from price shocks, and strengthen the long-term resilience of global energy systems".

This includes coordinating maintenance schedules across G7 refineries "to prevent simultaneous capacity shutdowns", it adds.

The group says it also encourages engagement with countries with significant refining capacity "to boost global production of refined products, particularly diesel".

The release of 100 million barrels will begin "immediately over 4 months", it says, and will include a "frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days by G7 members and partners".

The group also reiterates its commitment to avoid export restrictions on energy products between G7 countries and calls on all producers "to refrain from imposing bans" that could worsen the situation.

It also condemns Iran's attack on its neighbours and says it will maintain sanctions against Russia.

Image source, PA Media

The price of diesel in the UK has breached the £2 per litre mark for the first time, as the fallout from the US-Israel war with Iran continues to drive up costs.

Here's a quick look at how we got here:

• How do oil prices affect the cost of petrol and diesel at the pump? Crude oil is a key ingredient in petrol and diesel, which means that higher wholesale costs make filling up a car more expensive. The price of petrol and diesel is also heavily influenced by demand and refining capacity
• Why has the Iran war had a big impact on oil prices? A lot of oil is produced in the Middle East, and the conflict has severely disrupted the production and the transportation of it, causing its price to jump
• What has happened to petrol and diesel prices in the UK? Before the war began, the average price of petrol was 132.83p per litre and diesel was 142.38p, according to the RAC. Diesel is now 200.01p, the highest on record. Meanwhile, petrol has hit an average 174.71p a litre - the highest in more than four years

There's a lot more information which you can read in our explainer.

Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, PA Media

G7 countries have agreed to release 100 million barrels of their energy reserves to help bring down diesel prices.

In a statement released following a video call this afternoon, the group says the reserves will be released immediately over four months.

The release will be co-ordinated through the International Energy Agency.

The average price of a litre of diesel in the UK exceeded £2 for the first time ever today.

Energy prices have risen sharply since the start of the Iran war, when traffic through the Strait of Hormuz - a vital shipping lane - came to a virtual standstill.

UK Transport Minister Keir Mather said this morning that Britain’s supply of diesel was "robust", coming from a wide range of sources.

Meanwhile, the owner of several petrol garages in the West Midlands told the BBC he hadn't seen any panic buying.

But one man from Buckinghamshire who travels a lot for work says he is spending "nearly £500 a month extra on fuel".