The Times of Malta has published an article on energy and the oil crisis which needs some background reading.
The EU has not officially called for energy rationing measures. EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen has called on Europeans to cut back on unnecessary travel and work from home to cut back on energy use. This is not an official EU position, but only a recommendation. Some countries like Denmark and Germany have issued similar recommendations. Slovenia has introduced fuel rationing and Slovakia has restricted some fuel purchases.
There are no reports about oil shortages in Europe, except in Italy which has reported lack of sources for jet fuel due to high prices and has effectively rationed jet fuel in some airports to mitigate potential effects. Some airlines such as Scandinavian Airlines have already started cutting some flights due to soaring price of jet fuel. Jet fuel prices are up by more than 100% in Europe compared to last year. Europe has enough jet fuel for all of the month of April but has challenges sourcing jet fuel in May due to current prices.
Hungary and Slovakia have issues with the oil-flow in their country due to the Duzhba pipeline and this is unrelated to the war in Iran.
Fuel shortages are predicted to be temporary as supply-chains re-adjust to the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, although traffic in the Strait of Homuz is also expected to keep increasing as Iran and the US attempt to strike a deal. Supply-chains are already re-adjusting with Saudi Arabia diverting its oil exports to the Red Sea. Other countries will also be ramping up oil production to exploit high prices.
The crisis at the Strait of Hormuz has caused an oil-shock crisis but the crisis is still much smaller in terms of volume of oil supply-shock compared to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher



Leave a Reply