Energy Org. Chief Warns Europe Could Run Out of Jet Fuel in '6 Weeks,' Makes Cringe Musical Reference

RedState 

There are appropriate times to make references to music or musicians, but when your entire continent might be about to suffer a major financial jolt, it comes across as mostly cringe.

Such was the case on Thursday, when Fatih Birol, the head of world energy organization, the International Energy Agency, threw out a musical pun that would fall flat in any standup routine. And what was his dire pronouncement, in the wake of Iran's shutting the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S.' blockade of Iran's ports, in an exclusive interview with AP published on Thursday? 

Europe is about to run out of jet fuel, and suffer inflationary chaos in the energy sector, he said, estimating that it would happen less than two months from now:

“In Europe, we have maybe six weeks or so (of) jet fuel left,” he said. “If we are not able to open the Strait of Hormuz ... I can tell you soon we will hear the news that some of the flights from city A to city B might be canceled as a result of lack of jet fuel.”

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The impact will be “higher petrol (gasoline) prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices,” said Birol, speaking in his Paris office looking out over the Eiffel Tower.

Here's where his lame pun came in:

“In the past there was a group called ‘Dire Straits.’ It’s a dire strait now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy. And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world."

As RedState wrote earlier on Thursday, Europeans might be waiting on Iran to make the right choice on things, for oil to return to regular flow to them. SecWar Pete Hegseth did not mince words during a morning press conference:

...The United States Navy controls the traffic going in and out of this strait because we have real assets and real capabilities. And we're doing this blockade, performing it with less than 10% of America's naval power.

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As our negotiators have said, Iran can choose a prosperous future, a golden bridge. And we hope that you do, for the people of Iran. In the meantime, and for as long as it takes, we will maintain this successful blockade. But if Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power, and energy.

The Iranian regime's closing the Strait didn't help things, either, with an estimated one-fifth of world oil supply stifled by it.

We also need to see the fine print on President Trump's remarks Thursday on Iran supposedly agreeing to end its goal of obtaining a nuclear weapon through uranium enrichment.

In the interview with the Associated Press, Birol continued with the usual Eurobabble class warfare about who "will suffer the most" if the holdup on oil shipments continues much longer:

Economic pain will be felt unevenly and “the countries who will suffer the most will not be those whose voice are heard a lot. It will be mainly the developing countries. Poorer countries in Asia, in Africa and in Latin America,” said the Turkish economist and energy expert who has led the IEA since 2015.

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“Some countries may be richer than the others. Some countries may have more energy than the others, but no country, no country is immune to this crisis,” he said.

He shared what he has been hearing from world goverment officials on the possible "challenges" ahead:

Birol added: “Many government leaders tell me that if Hormuz is not open until (the) end of May, many countries — starting from the weaker economies — are going to face huge challenges, and this will go from the high inflation numbers to coming close to slow growth or even to recession in some cases.”

There's an issue with this clarion call from the energy group executive director on a fuel crisis, though. Airlines don't seem shaken. In the story linked above, the AP spoke to several companies, including U.S.- based Delta Air Lines, the Netherlands' KLM, and easyJet in the U.K. The latter two airlines said "they were not experiencing current fuel shortages, without commenting further on the IEA’s warning."

Delta was quoted as saying it "was aware of the continent’s 'potential jet fuel supply issue' and monitoring the situation, although it didn’t expect immediate impacts." 

And whose fault is it that the situation is where it is, when Europe mostly turned its back on the U.S. starting in March. 

The timing on this could not be worse, if it happens, with the high season for tourism just about to begin in May/June. Hotels and other local businesses depend on the higher costs associated with the premium travel window to keep their figures in the black.

Our sister site Hot Air wrote on Thursday about a similar issue in Australia, although that continent has few natural sources of oil and must import most of it. That doesn't excuse importing your economy's lifeblood from China, which has drastically pulled back on shipments recently, or handicapping yourselves by enacting energy mandates, and cutting back on coal and gas, while pushing the use of green energy.