{"id":403253,"date":"2026-03-25T15:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/403253\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T15:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:06:13","slug":"shell-boss-sets-date-britain-could-face-crisis-as-ominous-ripple-effect-spreads-from-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/403253\/","title":{"rendered":"Shell boss sets date Britain could face crisis as ominous ‘ripple effect’ spreads from Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain and Europe could face a fuel shortage crisis within weeks as the impact of the conflict in the Middle East worsens, the chief executive of Shell has warned. <\/p>\n

Wael Sawan cautioned that the pressure on oil and gas supply has already led to a slashing in energy consumption in a number of Asian countries – and a “ripple effect” could see similar measures introduced across Europe.<\/p>\n

The oil giant boss warned that European Governments may need to restrict energy demand for the first time in almost four years to avoid widespread shortages. <\/p>\n

He told an industry conference in Houston, Texas: \u201cWe see south Asia first to get that brunt, that moves to southeast Asia, northeast Asia and then more so into Europe as we get into April.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we are trying to work with Governments to alert them to the levers they may need to pull – including demand\u2011side measures, what they need to do around storage, what they need to do around purchasing stock and so on and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, Labour insisted that Britain had a \u201cdiverse and resilient energy supply\u201d and that officials were continuing to survey the situation. <\/p>\n

But the crisis in Iran has plunged markets into panic mode, sending oil and gas prices skyrocketing by 40 per cent and 60 per cent in the last month. <\/p>\n

The uncertainty has been deepened by the Islamic Republic’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz – through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and LNG supplies pass. <\/p>\n

\"Wael<\/p>\n

The oil giant boss warned that European governments may need to restrict energy demand<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

On Wednesday evening, it emerged that Britain could be set to send civilian ships<\/a> to the strait in a bid to clear Iranian mines from the vital trade route.<\/p>\n

Under plans being considered by the Royal Navy, chartered ships would function as “motherships” from which drones could be launched to locate and neutralise underwater explosives throughout the Gulf region.<\/p>\n

A senior UK energy industry source said the Shell CEO’s warnings portray one of the “worst-case scenarios” – though one which is still “absolutely possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

The source told The Telegraph: \u201cAt the moment, people are less worried about the physical security of supply and more about prices.<\/p>\n

PANIC AT THE PUMPS – READ MORE:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Oil<\/p>\n

The Middle Eastern conflict has plunged markets into panic mode<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, even at the height of the last energy crisis, when we lost huge gas volumes from Europe, we still managed to ensure security of supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

The industry insider added: \u201cClearly there is a point – and it is hard to know exactly when, perhaps June or July – where you get substantial rises in prices and the question becomes whether Europe is actually willing to pay to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

They warned that if it reached that stage, costs could jump to such a level that British businesses and households could begin self-rationing energy usage. <\/p>\n

Under the Energy Act, the Government has the power to take control of petrol supplies in the event of a crisis. <\/p>\n

\"Busy<\/p>\n

The Government has the power to take control of petrol supplies in the event of a crisis<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

And such measures have alredy started on the continent.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Slovenia became the first EU member state to introduce fuel rationing in a bid to curb disruptions caused by the conflict. <\/p>\n

Under the new regulations, motorists have been restricted to purchasing a maximum of 50 litres of fuel per day.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, farmers and businesses have been given a looser daily allowance of 200 litres. <\/p>\n

Despite the limitations, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob insisted there was “enough fuel” in the country and affirmed “there will be no fuel shortages”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain and Europe could face a fuel shortage crisis within weeks as the impact of the conflict in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[79,179,18,1015,19,18929,17,5,22976,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-403253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-iran","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-petrol","17":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116290439425161277","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}