Green politician Kellner criticizes the G7 decision to release oil

The energy policy spokesman for the Green parliamentary group, Michael Kellner, has clearly criticized the G7 countries' decision to release oil and diesel from their national reserves. The diesel stocks are there for emergencies, not for US President Donald Trump's election campaign, Kellner told ZEIT.

The G7 countries had agreed to release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from their strategic reserves for the market. They also announced that they would discuss the possibility of additional diesel releases and securing oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days.

"The release is a mistake, or worse: political stupidity," Kellner told the AFP news agency. Trump had urged his European partners to do so and promised a US diesel export ban if they refused. This could have affected supplies, particularly in the EU: around half of their diesel imports come from the USA. After the agreement, Trump ruled out an export ban.

“Every barrel that we no longer need makes us less vulnerable to blackmail.”

The US government hopes that the release will have a dampening effect on fuel prices around a month before the congressional elections. The high prices are a financial problem for many people in the USA - and therefore an election issue.

In an interview with the AFP news agency, Kellner called for a fundamental realignment of German energy policy. The federal government must “get out of oil dependence – with electric transport, clean heat and domestic energy,” he said. "Every barrel that we no longer need makes us less vulnerable to blackmail."