Airlines are getting surprise help with fuel

Global inventories of crude oil and fuels are collapsing at a record pace because the Gulf oil supply crisis is so severe that it cannot be replaced by other oil supplies. However, information about market changes varies.

According to S&P Global Energy’s estimate, crude oil stocks have fallen by almost 200 million barrels in April, or an average of 6.6 million barrels per day, although the sharp rise in oil prices has caused a collapse in demand of around five million barrels per day.

Chief analyst of raw materials at SEB bank Bjarne Schieldropin according to the world consumes, however oil stocks already around 10 million barrels per day globally, which consists of strategic stocks of states and stocks of commercial operators (KL 8.5.).

The world’s oil reserves are now dwindling at the rate of 200–300 million barrels per month. Schieldrop estimates that the real price pain in the market starts to be felt at the point when the dwindling of oil reserves approaches one billion barrels.

of the Financial Times however, the oil market has already lost at least one billion barrels of undelivered crude oil.

The only thing that is clear is that if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened in the coming weeks, the crisis will worsen, especially in Asia and Africa.

In Europe, the situation is to be expected. Last week, the EU Commission’s Energy Department’s Oil Coordination Group warned that although there is currently no shortage of aviation fuel in the EU, for example, regional supply restrictions may appear in the coming weeks. The wording was interesting. So there is no shortage, but there may still be restrictions.

On Friday, it turned out that, according to Reuters, airlines are going to be given permission to use American Jet A fuel, because stocks of Jet A1 fuel quality, preferred by the EU, are low at least for some of the operators. The difference between fuels is their cold resistance.

The fuel used by Europeans has better cold resistance and it gives airlines more flexibility to plan and fly long-distance routes and polar routes.

If and when European companies start using American fuel, the European Union’s aviation safety agency EASA urged airports and airlines to take the necessary precautions when changing fuel. In practice, this can mean, for example, changes in routing and cruising altitude.

In any case, Jet A is extensively refined outside the Persian Gulf, so using it is probably the only practical way to ease the pressure on European airlines if the crisis in the Persian Gulf continues for a long time.

Researcher at the Kpler Research Institute Takes Ritolia evaluate in the fresh in his analysis From the Strait of Hormuz, what initially seemed like a logistical bottleneck has now developed into a protracted structural disruption of the oil market.