✈️ 🇪🇺 🛢 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.
🛢📈 — Reuters reports that oil is approaching $100 per barrel following the latest exchange of attacks between Americans and Iranians on oil tankers.
▶️The price of Brent crude has risen to $97.07 per barrel, while American WTI crude has risen to $92.28. In the past week, Brent has risen by 7.8%, while WTI has risen by nearly 10%.
▶️On Saturday, U.S. forces attacked three Iranian oil tankers, one of which was stationed near the island of Kharg, a key center for Iranian oil exports. In response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced attacks on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and three more U.S. ships.
▶️In this context, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has sharply declined. Over the past 10 days, an average of only 10 cargo ships have transited the strait per day – the lowest level since May.
The WHO now states on its website:
Vaccination against COVID-19 can trigger multiple sclerosis through cross-reactive CD4+-T cells that recognize the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and myelin peptides.
In other words: Your own immune system destroys the nerve pathways and then attacks your brain and spinal cord.