USO slips 0.37% in pre-market trading to $149.46 as Europe weighs diesel and crude stock release
Reuters reports the EU's energy taskforce is discussing a release of diesel stockpiles after Washington asked European countries to release 120 million barrels over six months
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Chart: USO, a fund that tracks crude, one-minute prices, three sessions
Brent and WTI crude futures edged lower in pre-market trading on Friday after Reuters reported that the European Union's energy taskforce is discussing releasing diesel stockpiles, a move Washington has been pressing for.
Brent traded around $102.24 a barrel early on Friday, and WTI around $92.62, according to OilPrice.com and Business News. Both had settled higher a day earlier, with Brent's December contract closing Thursday at $102.31, up $4.28, and WTI at $92.87, up $2.45, Reuters reported.
Reuters also reported that Washington has asked European governments to release 120 million barrels of diesel over six months. OilPrice.com, citing sources who spoke to Reuters, said the administration has urged Germany and France, which together hold about 35% of the EU's strategic diesel reserves, to release stocks or face a potential U.S. diesel export ban. The EU holds an estimated 39 million tons of diesel, more than two months of the bloc's consumption, according to OilPrice.com. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at an Oval Office briefing that announcements on new diesel supplies from Europe are expected, though OilPrice.com reported that no European government has yet confirmed an actual release.
The push follows weeks of White House pressure on Europe to draw down emergency diesel inventories, and complaints that EU members have been slow to act on promised releases. A European release would add both crude and diesel barrels to a market already seeing Gulf supply recover, which is why crude has kept easing rather than stabilising after its prior Middle East-driven drop. The diesel side matters most, since diesel futures had hit a four-year high on recent disruptions, and a confirmed European release would ease that tightness more directly than any move on crude. Whether the decline holds depends on whether EU governments actually move the barrels, something that has not yet happened despite weeks of discussion.