It has begun. Hundreds of gas stations all over France are reporting that they are out of at least one type of fuel, and there are quite a few nations in Asia that are now imposing very strict measures in order to conserve energy. I have no idea why this isn’t making more news here in the United States. Maybe the big news outlets don’t think that there is any way that this could ever happen here. Or maybe there is a coordinated effort to keep the public calm. I don’t know. But without a doubt, this is a very big deal.
I knew that Europe was facing a severe energy crunch, but I didn’t realize that things had gotten so bad already.
It is being reported that 16 percent of all gas stations in France are out of at least one type of fuel…
Official French pump data on Monday showed that 16 percent of stations are short of at least one main fuel, diesel or petrol.
That was slightly better than Sunday evening (17 percent) but worse than Friday (13 percent). About 9,900 stations are in the count, according to prix-carburants.gouv.fr.
Shortages were worst this morning in Pays de la Loire (20 percent); Grand Est (19 percent); Île-de-France, Centre-Val de Loire, and Normandy (18 percent); Nouvelle-Aquitaine (17 percent); and Brittany, Hauts-de-France, and Occitanie (16 percent).
We aren’t just talking about a few isolated cases.
We are talking about hundreds upon hundreds of French gas stations that are experiencing outages.
This is serious.
If you can actually find fuel in France, prices are absolutely outrageous.
The average price of a liter of diesel in France is up to €2.406, which is approximately $10.45 a gallon.
Europe is facing its worst energy crisis in history, and there is no end in sight.
In fact, Saudi Arabia has told Europe that there will be no shipments of oil for them for the entire month of October…
The trigger this week was a drone strike on Sept. 10 that closed Saudi Arabia’s East West pipeline, the line carrying crude from the eastern oil fields to Yanbu on the Red Sea without touching Hormuz.
Aramco has now told European refining customers they will receive no crude at all in October under long-term contracts, reported Bloomberg. The decision applies to every European buyer.
What this means is that the shortages that we are witnessing in Europe right now are likely to get even worse.
Meanwhile, several countries in Asia have been forced to institute fuel rationing.
In Pakistan, many types of businesses are being forced to close early in order to save energy…
From September 17, shops and malls across Pakistan must close by 09:00 PM, wedding halls by 10:00 PM, and restaurants by 11:00 PM. This Cabinet Division order runs for the next three months.
Moreover, government vehicles lose 50% of their fuel allocation, with security fleets exempt.
The government banned new vehicle purchases and official foreign travel, and ordered a 5% cut to non-employee spending for fiscal 2026-27.
In Bangladesh, almost all businesses must now shut down by 8 o’clock at the latest…
Shops, markets, and shopping centres must shut by 8 PM, an hour earlier than before, and lit billboards go dark from 7 PM. Only hospitals, pharmacies, food shops, and emergency services are exempt.
Industry is taking the same hit. Garment factories, the country’s main source of foreign currency, face rationing and temporary closures, and one Gazipur plant reported four or five power cuts a day.
In Indonesia, there are now extremely strict rules about when citizens are allowed to fill up their vehicles…
By September 11, queues at Makassar pumps ran as long as one kilometer. Ride-hailing drivers described three-hour waits and called it the worst shortage they had ever seen.
South Sulawesi’s answer was rationing by decree on September 12. Cars can only refuel on days matching their plate number, private vehicles must show a fuel gauge below one bar, and trucks and buses may fill up only between 06:00 PM and 04:00 AM.
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