We know what’s coming and we are prepared.
✈️ 🇪🇺 🛢 As airlines ground planes and officials urge citizens to cut back on their commutes, Europe’s effort to prevent shortages caused by the Iran war is running into an unexpected hitch:
Europe doesn’t know how much fuel it has
The scramble comes as the war in Iran drives up Europe’s fossil fuel bill and threatens to choke off supplies moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for oil and gas. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the conflict is costing the EU nearly €500 million a day in higher energy costs, even as U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered his aides to prepare for a prolonged blockade of Iran that could further disrupt global energy markets.
“In Europe, we have visibility and commitments into May and June … what happens beyond is hard to forecast,” Tobias Meyer, chief executive of DHL Group, said during a press breakfast attended by POLITICO earlier this month. “There are strategic reserves, but there's not much visibility on how much has been drawn.”
At a high-level summit last month, ministers from Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain called attention to these knowledge gaps, urging the EU to coordinate more real-time monitoring and analysis, particularly around refined products, according to minutes seen by POLITICO. Greece's delegate went so far as to ask the Commission to set up a WhatsApp or Signal channel between member countries and the EU executive.
Tracking jet fuel stocks — held primarily in fixed-roof tanks — is “much more difficult,” Falakshahi said. Data on the fuel is drawn largely from voluntary disclosures by companies, and the lack of transparency is consistent with ongoing disagreements over how much fuel Europe has left.
Police in Winona Minnesota are stunned after every single one of their Flock cameras were suddenly removed in a single night.
According to the police department, all 8 of the town's cameras were cut down and hauled away.
Police are asking for the public's help to identify the individual, but the public has been responding with comments such as:
"The Flock cameras tore themselves down"
"Whoever did it, was fishing with me"
"Whoever it was, was at Bible study with me"
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Nearly 20,000 people are publicly vouching for a man accused of cutting down Flock cameras in a small West Virginia town.
People commented:
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"He was saving my neighbor's dog from a fire all day, couldn't be him."
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"This man is innocent. I saw him serving at a soup kitchen."
-"Couldn't be him. He was helping me replace the roof on a homeless shelter."
The man, Wesley Jackson, has pleaded Not Guilty.
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🇺🇸⛽️ Soaring diesel prices rip across US economy
Rising fuel costs threaten new jolt of inflation ahead of November’s midterm elections
A surge in diesel prices is dealing a powerful blow to industrial America, pushing up costs for businesses and consumers across the US ahead of midterm elections.
The pump price of diesel — the lifeblood of the economy because of its essential role in powering industry and agriculture — hit $5.47 a gallon on Tuesday, approaching its all-time high of $5.82 as wars in the Middle East and Europe hobble production and throttle global supplies.
Prices have jumped 8 per cent in the past month while the gap between the cost of diesel and crude oil, known as the “crack spread”, has hit a record high in recent days in a sign of the deepening supply shock.
The price surge has driven up costs for truckers and farmers that are set to ricochet through the broader economy, reigniting inflation and squeezing already thinly stretched American consumers.
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US diesel crack surpasses $100 a barrel for the first time on supply disruptions
... and the supply of refined fuels is already nearly exhausted. A hard landing is visible ahead, for farmers, for trucking, and ... well, for everything that requires food (people) and energy (the entire economy).
These are very likely the final days of relative normalcy during which to prepare. Get ready.
