Europe has only six weeks\u2019 supply of jet fuel left before shortages will hit because of the Iran war, according to the head of a global energy watchdog.<\/p>\n
Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said there would be flight cancellations \u201csoon\u201d if oil supplies from the Middle East were not restored within the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you soon we will hear the news that some of the flights from city A to city B might be cancelled as a result of lack of jet fuel,\u201d he told the Associated Press.<\/p>\n
The US-Israel war on Iran has caused turmoil in global energy markets since the first strikes at the end of February. In retaliation, Iran has effectively closed the strait of Hormuz, a vital export route for oil from the Gulf<\/a>.<\/p>\n The US and Iran last week agreed a two-week ceasefire, but talks on ending the war failed over the weekend. Indirect talks brokered by Pakistan<\/a> are continuing.<\/p>\n Brent crude oil futures prices, a global benchmark, remain more than 30% higher than they were before the war. The rapid increase in petrol prices has put pressure on the US president, Donald Trump.<\/p>\n However, there have not yet been outright shortages of jet fuel as shipments that set off before the war continued to arrive. The final cargoes have now made it to Europe.<\/p>\n Birol said Europe had \u201cmaybe six weeks or so [of][ jet fuel left\u201d, AP reported. His comments add to that of Airports Council International Europe, a lobby group that last week wrote to the EU\u2019s energy and transport commissioners saying the bloc was three weeks away from shortages<\/a>.<\/p>\n Airports and airlines tend to have about six weeks of fuel supplies in normal times, according to people in the industry. However, the Iran war has dragged on long enough that any extra reserves in the system are being used up, and other suppliers do not have enough capacity to replace supplies that come through the Gulf.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past there was a group called Dire Straits,\u201d said Birol. \u201cIt\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<\/p>\n The impact will be \u201chigher petrol prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices\u201d, Birol told AP, with some parts of the world \u201chit worse than the others\u201d.<\/p>\n Some airlines have cancelled flights that would be loss-making because of higher fuel prices, particularly if they did not have hedging arrangements in place to insure against big increases.<\/p>\n However, even those who have hedged may have to consider flight cancellations.<\/p>\n