1. What can a government legally do when oil runs short?
Quite a lot, but in a set order: a government can steer the market, release emergency stocks, restrain demand and, as the last resort, allocate or ration fuel. This four-step ladder is our own summary; the legal hook for each step is in the table below. The international floor is the 1974 Agreement on an International Energy Program (IEP), the treaty behind the IEA. It requires members that rely on oil imports to hold emergency stocks, and every member to be able to cut oil consumption by 7% at the first stage of a crisis (Art. 5). In the EU, Directive 2009/119/EC adds that states must be able to release stocks and restrict consumption, including by allocating products to certain groups of users on a priority basis (Art. 20). The UK and the US are not bound by that directive; each relies on its own statute, covered below.
| Step | What happens | Legal hook | 2026 example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Steer the market | price rules, market oversight, eased fuel standards | national law | Germany: fuel price rises limited to one a day from 1 April (Wirtschaftsdienst) |
| 2. Release stocks | sell or lend public stocks, or lower companies' stocking obligations | IEP collective action; EPCA (US); Energy Act 1976 (UK) | 426 million barrels confirmed (IEA, 19 Mar) |
| 3. Restrain demand | appeals, remote work, lower speed limits | IEP Art. 5 (7%) | IEA list of ten options (20 Mar) |
| 4. Allocate | purchase caps, priority users, allocation schemes | Energy Act 1976; UK National Emergency Plan for Fuel | Slovenia: 50 litres a day (Anadolu; disputed) |
How the 90 days of stocks behind step two are counted is explained on How it is counted: the 90-day rule.
2. What emergency powers does the UK government have over fuel?
The UK's powers rest on the Energy Act 1976, which, as the IEA's summary of UK legislation puts it, lets ministers “prohibit or restrict the supply of oil stocks to specified persons or to require the supply of oil stocks to specified persons”. There is no state stockpile: under the Oil Stocking Order 2012, suppliers above 50,000 tonnes a year must hold 67.5 days of domestic net consumption, at least 22 days of it as finished products (IEA). To release oil, the Secretary of State lowers that obligation through legally binding directions. That is what 2026 looked like: the government announced 13.5 million barrels on 12 March (written statement HLWS1398), the IEA table lists 14.0 million barrels of industry stocks, and Anadolu Agency reported that the UK would reduce obligations rather than physically release stocks. We found no published figure for how many days the obligation fell.
For a real shortage, the National Emergency Plan for Fuel (NEP-F) lists further tools: a Designated Filling Station Scheme, a Maximum Purchase Scheme that limits retail road-fuel sales, a reserve tanker fleet with military drivers, and a Crude Oil and Imported Product Allocation Scheme (GOV.UK). In the Lords on 28 April 2026, Lord Whitehead said the government prefers “the least invasive measures first” and that “we are not in this situation” (Hansard). A cap of about £30 per visit was reported as under consideration (Regit, 10 April), but it is not in the official NEP-F summary. The UK system in detail: United Kingdom: the stocking obligation.
3. What can the President do with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
A full drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve needs a presidential finding of a “severe energy supply interruption”, or US obligations under the IEA treaty, under section 161(d) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The CRS names three tests behind that finding: an emergency with a significant cut in supply, a “severe increase in the price” and a “major adverse impact on the national economy”. Without it, a limited drawdown under section 161(h) is capped at 30 million barrels over no more than 60 days. The third route is an exchange: a company borrows crude and returns it later “plus payment of an in-kind premium” (CRS). According to DOE, the SPR can release up to 4.4 million barrels a day, and oil reaches the market about 13 days after a presidential decision.
In 2026 Washington took the exchange route. The US share of the IEA action, 172.2 million barrels (IEA), was announced on 11 March as exchanges that DOE expected to take about 120 days to deliver. In the week to 11 September the SPR held 285.0 million barrels (EIA). TIME reported no rationing in the United States on 5 April, and we found none in our other sources. Current level and exchange terms: US Strategic Petroleum Reserve level.
4. Did any country actually ration fuel in 2026?
Only a handful of countries are documented as rationing fuel in 2026; IEA members mostly released stocks instead, and of the 426 million barrels the IEA confirmed on 19 March, 280 million came from public stocks and 119 million from obligated industry stocks, often freed by lowering stockholding obligations.
| Country | What happened in 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | minimum stockholding for petrol and diesel cut by 20% from 16 March for suppliers with an approved regional supply plan, up to 762 million litres made available; that instrument expired on 30 June, and according to the trade outlet C-Store the relief now runs to 31 January 2027 | Federal Register; fuelplan.gov.au; C-Store (22 Sep, trade press) |
| Japan | private-sector stocking obligation cut by 15 days, from 70 days | ANRE (13 Apr) |
| Spain | obligation may be cut from 92 to as few as 79.7 days; 4 days released at once | BOE (20 Mar) |
| Slovenia | from 22 March, 50 litres a day per station for private buyers, 200 litres for businesses | Anadolu (23 Mar) |
| Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia | QR fuel pass (Sri Lanka); odd-even number plates (Myanmar); 50 litres a day for private vehicles (Indonesia) | Newsweek (1 Apr, secondary source) |
| United States, United Kingdom | releases, no rationing found | TIME (5 Apr); Hansard (28 Apr) |
Australia shows how a temporary cut works in law: under section 16A of the Fuel Security Act 2021, the minister may reduce the obligation for up to six months at a time, with further six-month periods allowed; we could not find the follow-up instrument behind the reported extension in the Federal Register. Government modelling reported by ABC News assumed rationing only if diesel stocks fell to 10 days. On Slovenia the sources conflict: TIME wrote on 5 April that no formal rationing had been introduced in Europe. The IEA's own summary says governments used “exceptional demand-restraint measures, including energy conservation campaigns, work-from-home policies and fuel rationing” (State of Energy Policy 2026). Who gave what: IEA release 2026: who gave what.
5. Would rationing hit your household, and what can you do now?
Not for now: as of 23 September 2026 we found no purchase limits in force in the UK or the US, and in April the UK government said it prefers “the least invasive measures first” (Hansard). What you may keep at home is already limited: HSE guidance lets you store up to 30 litres of petrol without telling your local Petroleum Enforcement Authority, in plastic cans of up to 10 litres or metal ones of up to 20, never inside living accommodation. If Britain did ration, the Maximum Purchase Scheme would limit retail sales of road fuel, alongside a Designated Filling Station Scheme (GOV.UK); the EU directive, for comparison, gives priority to certain groups of users. Australia's fuel plan calls its top level “Protecting critical services for all Australians”, according to ABC News.
For households, the IEA's advice on cutting oil use is the more practical guide. Its report “Sheltering From Oil Shocks” (20 March 2026) lists ten demand-side options for households, businesses and governments, among them working from home where possible, cutting highway speed limits by at least 10 km/h, public transport, car sharing and efficient driving, and avoiding flights where alternatives exist. The overview page puts no number on the savings and does not mention heating; for scale, the IEA's 2022 ten-point plan estimated 2.7 million barrels a day within four months. What is worth keeping at home: Household energy reserve: what makes sense; who can order what: Fuel rationing: who can order it, and when?.
How to cite: Global Oil Shock (Jörg Dässler), “Oil Emergency Powers and Fuel Rationing in 2026”, as of 23 Sep 2026, https://globaloilshock.com/en/strategic-oil-reserves/emergency-powers-rationing/