Emergency meeting in Brussels: there is a fear of running out of diesel
The European Union held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the potential shock to diesel supplies resulting from the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson called an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss potential problems if there were a disruption to diesel supplies, such as strikes and long queues of trucks waiting for diesel.
“Oil is important. A diesel shortage could lead to economic blockades,” a European Union official told Reuters . “Is this a 1973 moment or not?”
After the group discussed the risks of a diesel fuel shortage, the EU's Oil Coordination Group determined that the risks are much lower than under the 1973 oil embargo, with Europe now relying on oil in much smaller than decades ago. According to the EU official, Europe relies on crude oil for only about a third of its energy mix.
Supply cuts by OPEC, however, continue to be of concern to the EU, especially since one of the EU's main suppliers of crude oil is OPEC's largest producer, Saudi Arabia.
“The Middle East route is still of considerable importance to Europe… 20 million bp passes through Hormuz. It's a real choke point,” the official stressed.
“A possible crisis would have an immediate impact on price, but poses less of a risk to security of supply, although the market is very tight due to OPEC+ cuts, tightness is expected to ease in 2024.”
The EU currently has 90 days of net crude oil imports or 61 days of domestic consumption based on its needs, but oil and diesel continue to pose a risk to the EU.
The EU's energy supply situation is still worrying as imports of oil products from Russia, which constituted a significant percentage before the war in Ukraine, have been blocked.
It seems ironic that, while the Commission and part of Parliament are discussing decarbonisation and setting objectives
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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/riunione-demergenza-a-bruxelles-si-teme-di-restare-senza-gasolio/ on Sat, 28 Oct 2023 07:00:19 +0000.