Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Wednesday, Wirth said export bans “actually take supply off the global market and they run the risk of making the situation worse,” adding that the United States “has been a reliable supplier to the world at a time when it needs it” and that a ban would raise questions among allies about American reliability. The comments came after Trump recently took the ban off the table, saying it was unnecessary after European countries agreed to release fuel from their reserves; the president had threatened the ban last month as diesel prices topped $6 a gallon nationally. Analysts cited in the reporting said a ban could cut US prices by 30 to 40 cents a gallon in the short term, but that the relief would fade as producers lost money and shifted distillate refining elsewhere.
Wirth also took issue with drawing down emergency fuel stocks ahead of winter, saying global inventory levels are in a “very serious” situation: “We’re at much lower levels of inventory right now and it makes the system more vulnerable to disruption.” Some analysts say it could take up to two years to rebuild global oil inventories. The CEO’s framing undercuts both of the administration’s fuel-price tools in play this week, the export-ban threat and the red-dyed diesel order, by locating the problem in physical buffers rather than trade policy.