Ed Conway explains why diesel is 'existential' for Donald Trump
Sky News covered the G7's emergency fuel release more than once on Friday, and it was the economics editor's graphs, not the news bulletin, that drew the crowd.
Sky NewsStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 273,253 views a day, 12 times a normal first day on this channel (23,536).
Why diesel prices are existential for Donald Trump
Why would a fuel most drivers never put in their own car matter so much to an American president? Ed Conway, Sky News' economics and data editor, takes that question on in "Why diesel prices are existential for Donald Trump."
The news behind it came from Emmanuel Macron: the G7 will share millions of barrels of oil and diesel from its reserves. Trump welcomed the move, after threatening to ban American diesel exports. Conway's job is the why. Diesel keeps the trucks, freight trains and farm machinery running, so its price finds its way into almost everything people buy. The video's tags also reach for jet fuel and the Strait of Hormuz.
The explainer passed 140,000 views in its first eight hours, on a channel where a new video usually ends its whole first day near 24,000. The same G7 story, told as news on The Wrap with Jonathan Samuels, Susie Boniface and former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, has drawn only a small share of that. It is also the second Conway explainer to take off within a few days, after his look at pensions, as we reported here.
The comments wander well beyond Washington. There is a running joke that every diesel explainer starts by apologizing that the subject sounds obscure. Several viewers single out the graphs. Many British viewers turn the question homeward, to the refineries the country has closed and how much fuel it keeps in storage, and one thread argues over electric car sales.
It was a crowded Friday for the broadcaster. Alex Rossi's report on the flydubai captain who was stabbed by his co-pilot, and who told Narendra Modi from his hospital bed how he fought to reach the cockpit door, also ran far ahead of normal. So did Rob Harris following the money behind Manchester City, the new charge against the man accused in Ann Widdecombe's killing, and the school protests spreading across France. Of all of it, Conway's piece on a fuel few viewers ever buy is the one leading the day.
Published on Trari
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- Channel
- Sky News
- Subscribers
- 9,370,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 17,674,106
- Channel views, pace per day
- 2,891,980 (on a normal day: 2,459,541)
- Video published
- October 2, 2026
- Video views so far
- 141,554 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 273,253
The numbers
Sky News is a busy channel on any day, which makes a first eight hours like this one stand out all the more.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which international body, founded in 1974 after the oil crisis, coordinates emergency oil stock releases among its member countries?
The IEA was set up in 1974, after the 1973 oil embargo, partly to coordinate how its members hold and release emergency oil stocks.
