Belgium is finally going to tap into its strategic fuel reserves. After long refusing to do so, the country has agreed to release 260,000 barrels of road diesel, according to information published on Tuesday 3 November 2026 by Le Soir and relayed by the Belga news agency. The decision comes under pressure from the United States and will have no direct effect on pump prices. France, for its part, has committed to releasing 10 million barrels of diesel, with a stated aim of lowering pump prices.
What Belgium has agreed to release
The office of the federal Energy Minister, Mathieu Bihet (MR), told the newspaper that Belgium has committed to taking part in the international effort to make strategic oil stocks available. This commitment is part of the collective action of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Belgium's contribution amounts to 35,000 tonnes of oil, in the form of road diesel equivalent. Le Soir specifies that this represents about 260,000 barrels.
A U-turn after months of refusal
This choice marks a change of position. On 11 March 2026, when the IEA called on its members to take voluntary collective action, Minister Mathieu Bihet had indicated that Belgium would not, for the time being, deploy its strategic emergency reserve. He described these stocks as a mechanism meant to guarantee security of supply when it is under threat, and not as an instrument of price regulation.
The Belgian press had then reported that the federal government wanted to keep these emergency stocks for as long as there was no real threat of shortages, rather than using them to temporarily bring fuel prices down. Under pressure from the United States, Belgium has finally committed to contributing.
The IEA collective action behind these decisions
On 11 March 2026, the IEA announced the release of 400 million barrels from the strategic stocks of its 32 member countries, in order to contain the surge in prices caused by the war in the Middle East. The decision was taken unanimously. It is the sixth collective action of this kind since the agency was created in 1974, after those of 1991, 2005, 2011 and twice in 2022, and the largest ever decided.
In a collective action, each country contributes in proportion to its share of the total oil consumption of IEA members. For France, this corresponded to 14.5 million barrels, according to the indications given by Emmanuel Macron after the G7 summit devoted to this issue. The IEA had also specified that European contributions would primarily take the form of refined products, which is the case for Belgium's contribution, expressed in road diesel.
As of 2 October, around 325 million barrels had been released, a little over 80% of the March commitment. In early October, IEA member states said they were ready, if necessary, to release more reserves, including diesel. The agency also indicated that the full release of the stocks that were promised but not yet put on the market would add around 100 million barrels.
In France: 10 million barrels of diesel and a targeted drop at the pump
On 7 October 2026, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that 10 million barrels of diesel from the strategic reserves would be made available to distributors, as we detailed in our article on Lecornu's announcement. The diesel concerned was bought before prices surged and is being sold on at cost price. The government is aiming for a drop of 12 to 18 cents per litre starting on 1 November 2026, for three months.
Distributors that benefit from this diesel must commit to passing the reductions on at the pump, and each station must inform its customers of the discount granted. DGCCRF inspections are due to check that this display requirement is respected. A first release took place on 28 October.
On 1 November 2026, our 5:05 pm reading across 7,698 stations gives an average diesel price of €2.337/L, compared with €2.373 at the previous evening's reading. Of the 30 brands we track, 22 show a lower price between 31 October and 1 November, including BP, E. Leclerc and Esso. These differences measure the change in each brand's average price between two days and do not make it possible to isolate the share due to the stock release. The details are in our 1 November analysis by brand.
The framework for strategic stocks
European directive 2009/119/EC requires member states to maintain minimum stocks of crude oil and petroleum products. In Belgium, these stocks are managed by the federal agency APETRA, and their purpose is to be drawn on in the event of supply difficulties or shortfalls, at both international and national level. On the IEA side, each member must hold stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net imports of oil, in the form of public stocks, compulsory industry stocks or equivalent arrangements.