{"id":15613,"date":"2026-04-17T03:07:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/15613\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T03:07:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:07:25","slug":"ap-exclusive-europe-could-run-out-of-jet-fuel-within-weeks-iea-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/15613\/","title":{"rendered":"AP Exclusive: Europe could run out of jet fuel within weeks, IEA warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS (AP) \u2014 Europe has \u201cmaybe six weeks or so\u201d of remaining jet fuel supplies, the head of the International Energy Agency said Thursday in a wide-ranging interview, warning of possible flight cancellations \u201csoon\u201d if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called \u201cthe largest energy crisis we have ever faced,\u201d stemming from the pinch-off of oil, gas and other vital supplies through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past there was a group called \u2018Dire Straits.\u2019 It\u2019s 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,\u201d he told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The impact will be \u201chigher petrol (gasoline) prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices,\u201d said Birol, speaking in his Paris office looking out over the Eiffel Tower. <\/p>\n

Economic pain will be felt unevenly and \u201cthe 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,\u201d said the Turkish economist and energy expert who has led the IEA since 2015.<\/p>\n

But without a settlement of the Iran war that permanently reopens the Strait of Hormuz, \u201cEverybody is going to suffer,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Slow growth or even recession\u2019<\/p>\n

Nearly 20% of the world\u2019s traded oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime. Birol warned that not reopening the waterway within weeks could compound the repercussions for global energy supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Europe, we have maybe six weeks or so (of) jet fuel left,\u201d he said. \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dutch airline KLM and U.K.-based budget carrier easyJet said Thursday that they were not experiencing current fuel shortages, without commenting further on the IEA\u2019s warning. Meanwhile, U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines \u2014 which frequently flies to destinations across Europe \u2014 said it was aware of the continent\u2019s \u201cpotential jet fuel supply issue\u201d and monitoring the situation, although it didn\u2019t expect immediate impacts. Still, all three airlines are among those that have already seen higher costs<\/a> eat into their budgets.<\/p>\n

KLM is cutting 160 flights to and from Amsterdam\u2019s Schiphol airport next month, accounting for about 1% of its total European routes. The airline cited \u201crising kerosene costs,\u201d and said a limited number of flights are \u201cno longer financially viable to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travelers are already paying the consequences. Beyond flight cancellations, some carriers are increasing ticket fares and add-on fees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Birol added: \u201cMany government leaders tell me that if Hormuz is not open until (the) end of May, many countries \u2014 starting from the weaker economies \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birol spoke out against the so-called \u201ctoll booth\u201d system that Iran has applied<\/a> to some ships, letting them travel through the strait for a fee. He said allowing that to become more permanent would run the risk of setting a precedent that could then be applied to other waterways, including the vital Malacca Strait in Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we change it once, it may be difficult to get it back,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will be difficult to have a toll system here, applied here, but not there.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see that the oil flows unconditionally from the point A to point B,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Damage for Persian Gulf energy facilities<\/p>\n

More than 110 oil-laden tankers and over 15 carriers loaded with liquefied natural gas are waiting in the Persian Gulf and could help ease the energy crisis if they could escape through the Strait of Hormuz to world markets, Birol said, adding: \u201cBut it is not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with a peace deal, war-damage to energy facilities means it could be many months before preconflict levels of production are restored, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver 80 key assets in the region have been damaged. And out of these 80, more than one-third are severely or very severely damaged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be extremely optimistic to believe that it will very quick,\u201d Birol said. \u201cIt will take gradually, gradually, up to two years to come back where we were before the war.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2018Dark shadow\u2019 of geopolitics<\/p>\n

Birol said it is incomprehensible that \u201ca couple of hundred men with guns\u201d \u2014 apparently referring to Iranian forces \u2014 are able to hold hostage the global economy. He said his Paris-based agency, which advises governments on energy policy and helped coordinate a record release of emergency oil reserves<\/a> earlier in the crisis, has warned for years about the critical importance of the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n

The global shock could spur the embrace of other energy technologies, including nuclear power, and \u201cwill reshape the global energy map for the next years to come,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On his office shelves, Birol has a couple of soccer balls \u2014 he\u2019s a devoted supporter of the Turkish club Galatasaray \u2014 and other memorabilia, including a photo of his late father playing soccer, and reams of books. One in particular stood out for its timely title: \u201cOil, Power and War.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy and geopolitics have been always interwoven,\u201d Birol said. \u201cBut I have never, ever seen … such a dark and long shadow of geopolitics.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cUnfortunately, energy is at the heart of many conflicts which, again, makes me, as an energy person, rather sad, to be honest.\u201d <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Business Writer Wyatte Grantham-Philips contributed from New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 Europe has \u201cmaybe six weeks or so\u201d of remaining jet fuel supplies, the head of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[636,2077,635,2168,603,507,39,4,40,309,11831,303,2167,299,11833,11832,632,5535,920,314],"class_list":{"0":"post-15613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","9":"tag-aerospace-and-defense-industry","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-economic-indicators","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-energy-markets","14":"tag-eu","15":"tag-europe","16":"tag-european-union","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-india-government","19":"tag-iran","20":"tag-iran-government","21":"tag-iran-war","22":"tag-japan-government","23":"tag-north-korea-government","24":"tag-oil-and-gas-industry","25":"tag-recessions-and-depressions","26":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","27":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}