France plans to release 10 million barrels of diesel from strategic reserves to stabilize oil prices; no plan to replenish stocks.

According to information from two fuel distributors and the French oil industry association Ufip-EM, fuel distributors will soon receive this batch of reserve diesel intended to stabilize fuel prices, and will not be required to replenish and return it afterward. French Prime Minister Sbastien Lecornu announced on October 7 that 10 million barrels of strategic diesel reserves would be released starting November 1. Distributors can purchase this diesel at the average cost price at the time it was placed into reserve. That price is far below the current market price and is expected to reduce retail prices at gas stations by 12 to 18 euro cents per liter. The relevant legal basis was published last Saturday in the Official Journal of the French government. The original obligation to replenish stocks had obvious drawbacks: if geopolitical tensions persist and market oil prices remain high, distributors would later have to buy back at high prices and return the reserves, ultimately causing a retaliatory rebound in fuel prices. In addition, France's diesel consumption has been declining year by year: people are cutting spending while increasingly switching to electric or gasoline vehicles. This trend has accelerated further this year, and in the view of the government and the industry, the need to replenish reserves has accordingly decreased. Philippe Casbas, chairman of the French oil industry association Ufip-EM, said: "We are anticipating what will happen in the next two to three years."