U.S. Media Awakens to Nation’s Looming Diesel Fuel Crisis
Wait until press discovers the root cause of the shortage is rabid fossil-fuel hate based on Franken-science it peddles.
Last May, I noted that diesel fuel, which powers many essential supply vehicles (e.g., trucks, boats, and trains) and farm equipment, was in disturbingly short supply.
Now, the “professional” American media is finally awakening to the fact there is a severe diesel fuel crisis looming, which will have a devastating impact on the nation’s economy.
Diesel stockpiles in the U.S. are reportedly at their lowest point since 2008, with only enough fuel for a 25-day supply, according to a recent report from Bloomberg. Demand is also said to be at its highest point since 2007, creating a dangerous supply/demand combination that’s causing spikes in pricing. The Biden administration called the nationwide diesel supply “unacceptably low” and is looking at all options to build up the national supply to help reduce prices.
According to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average price of diesel is at $5.34 per gallon. That’s an increase of $1.67 per gallon, compared to this time last year. The area getting hit the hardest is New England, where people burn diesel fuel for heat more than anywhere else in the country. There, stockpiles of diesel fuel are a third of what they normally are at this time of the year. However, the highest cost of diesel fuel is in California, where the average cost is almost $6.50 per gallon, an increase of almost $2.00 per gallon over this time last year.
It’s also a massive price increase over the average cost of gasoline in the U.S. According to the EIA, the average price of gasoline in the U.S. is $3.87 per gallon, with the most expensive region also being California, at $5.84 per gallon.
I must point out that the “25-day” supply is only if no new diesel is pumped, and that won’t be the case. However, shortages and steep price increases will strain the economy, and Americans will have to choose between essential quality-of-life products in ways they have not seen since the 1970s stagflation.
Four reasons have been identified for the current low levels of supply. The first two involve distillates at low levels, and now the refineries that produce them are doing maintenance.
The following two are longer-term problems:
U.S. refinery capacity has fallen in the past few years as several unprofitable refineries were closed. So, that’s a new factor that has appeared in the past couple of years.
But the primary reason is the cutoff of Russian imports. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. was importing nearly 700,000 barrels per day (BPD) of petroleum and petroleum products. Most of those imports were finished products and refinery inputs that boosted distillate supplies in the U.S.
Because our elite media has little interest in anything outside of the corridors between New York City and Washington DC (or its West Coast equivalent between Los Angles and San Francisco), it has not been monitoring the situation until recently. It is now dawning on “journalists” how serious the problem is.
“It’s not a thing that gets the same attention from the public as gas does. Most people don’t use diesel and they don’t see the relevancy, but it is something that infiltrates every nook and cranny of inflation because everything moves around the country in the waterways, on the rails or on the roads, with diesel powering it,” said [Tom Kloza, dean of U.S. oil analysts at Oil Price Information Service].
Diesel is used in farming, construction, heating and transportation, with trains, trucks and ships all running on it.
“The economy runs on diesel,” said Cinquegrana. “Think about everything you buy in the store, it got there by trains and trucks. Construction, etc. High diesel prices could slow economic activity down. Prices have come down from the all-time highs in mid-June, but not enough to ease concerns.”
Wait until the press discovers that the root cause of the diesel shortage is the scary, Franken-science of “climate crisis” drama it publishes, which is narrative-driven rather than based on actual data. Some countries are warming up to reality and returning to reliable, efficient, and, if properly managed, environmentally sensible fossil fuels.
Saad al-Kaabi, Energy Minister of Qatar, says, “Many countries particularly in Europe which had been strong advocates of green energy and carbon-free future have made a sudden and sharp U-turn. Today, coal burning is once again on the rise reaching its highest levels since 2014.”
They are right. Global coal demand will reach an historic high in 2022, similar to 2013’s record levels. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), “Global coal consumption is forecast to rise by 0.7 percent in 2022 to 8 billion tons…. Coal consumption in the European Union is expected to rise by seven percent in 2022 on top of last year’s 14 percent jump.”
Coal will continue to be a sought-after energy source as “rising gas prices after 2030 will make existing coal-fired generation more economic,” the IEA says. Global energy demand will grow by 47 percent from now through 2050, and oil is expected to be the major source of energy.
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we can use diesel but prefer not too, tax status issues and often heating oil has additives to prevent gelling in outdoor tanks.
got about 175 gallons coming wednesday.
yay.
turned on my auto delivery month early due to price increases.
If you live north of the Mason Dixon line diesel is also cut with anti gel during the winter months. You can also buy anti gel of various types or cut it with kerosine
I have resorted to riding my bicycle and packing heat.
Re: Wait until press discovers the root cause of the shortage …… not if VP Harris is assigned to determine the root causes.
I have debated some people online who have literally said their lives ate the same under Biden as it was under Trump and their lives are blessed.
These people are liars. They cannot tell themselves the truth that the 2020 election they helped steal has turned their lives into a living hell. They are secretly wanting Republicans to win the midterms but they can’t bring themselves to say it because their hatred has conditioned them for so long.
The Dems want a managed decline. Best of both worlds. USA is not so strong and they don’t get blamed except they did too much at once and the decline is in your face pre mid terms.
“Managed decline”? That decline will impact them as well and that is the biggest mental fallacy the Dems, green weenies and libs/woke crowd have. They think they are insulated from their bad policies and agendas but it will bite them in the ass in the end.
But, but, it’s the “Putin price hike!!!”
What a load of crap. They are screwing us up bigly. Diesel moves EVERYTHING in the country, and every penny of these increases will be passed onto the consumer.
Gee, I wonder why there are shipping interruptions?
Democrat Congressmen are complaining about Oil Company Profits being too high.
If you want Oil Companies Profits to go down… Let them Drill!
That is all it will take. They will produce more and prices and profits will fall.
The left knows nothing about Supply and Demand.
U.S. refinery capacity has fallen in the past few years as several unprofitable refineries were closed. So, that’s a new factor that has appeared in the past couple of years.
——
How the bell is a refinery unprofitable?
Some shut down in the pandemic due to reduced demand (consumption reduced during lockdowns).
Others may not be getting enough raw in to have something to refine in a volume that is profitable to operating costs. If they are union and in a blue state like CA, it’s hard to trim the workforce in order to stay profitable.
The USA used to produce too much diesel. We shipped our excess to Europe where passenger vehicles are more likely to be diesel.
Regulations forced a lot of upgrades to reduce emissions. Just a guess, but this may have contributed to the financial decisions that certain facilities are/would no longer be profitable.
Consider than no new Greenfield refinery has been built in the US since 1977. Not a single one. Why? Regulations and permitting delays, law fare and protests. All those make it impossible to make a profit to cover the massive capital outlay.
Existing refineries since then have closed down.Why? Regulations making the cost of modernization and replacement of equipment economically unfeasible. It’s cheaper to do repairs to get another 3-8 years out of it then shut it down. A few older refineries have shifted to production of biodiesel. Problem is that conversion is effectively a one way street, but they get tax incentives to go ‘green’ which makes it worthwhile to the bottom line.
The environmental weirdos have been able to largely get their way until now because there was enough slack in the system and due to innovation to make the existing refinery capacity more productive. The tipping point has now been reached. No more slack exists and the easy innovation is over. Now the true consequences are arriving. An artificial scarcity created by intentional destruction of production capacity.
In many ways similar to the situation with Social Security. Our leaders ignore the growing problem of insolvency that everyone acknowledges is around the corner. The various interest groups, lobbyists, law fare orgs have so cowed our leaders that they do nothing even though they do know there is an approaching reckoning. They pray it doesn’t happen while they are still building their nest egg from their grift. Much easier to ignore it and hope someone else solves it later on when they won’t get splattered when it hits the fan.
Just to add a small but not inconsequential detail your very informative comment, there’s the investor aspect as well. It takes at least ten years to get a refinery up and running. That’s a ballpark figure; Shell has a refinery in Singapore. To build it they first had to reclaim land from the sea.
Real estate in Singapore is extremely expensive.
Everything about oil refineries is expensive. Typically operators conduct two year “turnarounds.” They go through the entire facility and repair or replace everything that isn’t working optimally down to the smallest valve. They are planned and configured to use a particular feedstock and produce a particular mix of product. You can’t just switch from feeding a refinery designed for light (lower viscosity) sweet (low sulfur content) to even intermediate let alone heavy (high viscosity; doesn’t flow well) sour (high sulfur content) at the drop of a hat. It takes serious work. That means serious money.
And investors are not going to put up any money with idiots like Joe Biden vowing to end the oil industry. This is monumental stupidity on an almost unimaginable scale. But as long as Democrats exist they can have the power to do just that.
This is just another reason why it matters if we shut down domestic production and are forced to buy oil from Venezuela or Iran.
In case you’re wondering why the hell you should listen to some guy on Al Gore’s intertubes about oil refineries, I was a Naval intelligence officer for 20 years. It developed that intel officers were handed the job of targeteering and weaponeering. What are the critical nodes in your enemy’s infrastructure that will shut down their war machine. Obviously POL (Petroleum, Oil, Lubricants) facilities are at the top of the list. The Greens can dream all they want but nothing much runs without oil. Then, what weapons do you use to take out that node.
This requires a lot of thought. You want to shut them down. But you don’t want to do too much damage that when you take territory you can’t get the facility up and running for your own use.
Unlike most internet randos this isn’t the first time I’ve had a reason to think about oil refineries. Actually I’ve had several occasions to think about the mysteries of oil; did you know the reason the Japanese were hell bent on seizing the Dutch East Indies is that the oil was so pure they could pump it straight out of the ground and into their ships’ boilers?
Joe Biden said he was going to shut down our oil industry permanently. He’s doing far more damage to our oil industry’s infrastructure than I would if I were your enemy. So, what does that say about him and who he and his fellow travelers truly are?
Yep all true though I did try and convey the major point about invested appetite ‘make it impossible to a profit to cover the massive capital outlay’.
Which bears repeating in the current environment. The European Nations seeking alternatives to Russian Nat Gas are hitting the roadblock of investment. Suppliers want multi decade delivery contracts. Not because they are gouging but because the initial investment in everything it takes to produce is so high.
The West has created an artificial scarcity by limiting its own production capacity. That means less world supply. Add in removing Russian product and now there isn’t enough. Pretty simple but our leaders don’t seem to have grasped this yet.
Sure they are true believers in ‘green’ but they also understand that normal folks depend on oil and gas, that our economy depends on it. They don’t really want to push a program that creates an actual political upheaval/violence over this.
They want to gradually make the change to their utopia. The Russians are up ending the process by massively accelerating the the timeline. People don’t want it and that’s a large part of the reactionary /populist right movement gaining strength not only here but in Europe.
Regulations making them so pushed by Bidens EPA. One of the sneaky unnoticed things his administrations has done
Aside from the aforementioned pandemic lockdowns, Biden’s war on domestic petroleum has severely reduced production of the crude oil those refineries need to operate. Without a sufficient supply of that they cannot run economically.
Worse, now that they’re shut down it will be almost impossible to restart them so long as the Democrats have the Presidency, as in that case the EPA will continue to run roughshod over any attempt to start a petroleum project.
Put communists in charge. They can make it unprofitable to own a flock of geese laying golden eggs
https://freebeacon.com/issues/flashback-obama-promised-electricity-costs-would-skyrocket/.
“‘Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I’m capping greenhouse gases,’ Obama said. ‘Coal power plants, natural gas, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money onto consumers.'”
When the left tells you that they hate you, believe them. Sure, they use 55 gallon drums of word salad to get to the point, but they hate you and want you to freeze in the dark. They also want you to starve. Look at what the Dutch government is doing to their farmers. Or look at what Kali is doing. Anyone actually think the Democrats give a s*** about the Delta Smelt? They couldn’t tell a smelt apart from a sardine or a mackerel if they were in a police line-up. But, hey! Any smelt in a storm. The precious Delta Smelt is sufficient reason to cut off water to the central valley farmers and ranchers.
Democrats have no free will.
To battle them is all uphill
Even though the country is in decline
They will toe the party line
And be of the same opinion still
Black gold… Clean, green, renewable, reliable energy when and where it is demanded. That said, here is to the greening house effect.
Acute phobia of all things and lives carbon has no place. #HateLovesAbortion.
The ill-educated, the sheep, (and the just plain stupid) can only understand the Franken-science fed them by the media (read: government).
Its’ not ‘ill-education’. It’s the left learning to create narcissisitic monsters, then play into them.
Gee, if only someone had seen that coming and warned us…
the media for example.
Who needs your stinking diesel? Actually we do – keep making it.
Do you suspect you might be living in a fascist country, but aren’t sure because you strongly suspect the media lies to you constantly? Check for these symptoms:
– unexplained shortages
– soaring inflation
– untrustworthy media
– rapidly depreciating currency
– massive mal-investments
– suggestions that you probably should be eating bugs
ALL……part of the plan.
Xi is filing his nails as we speak. His treasonous American puppets await their pay.
Seems only Democrats believe they can live in a world governed by their policies.
As seen in no socialist/communist country ever.
There is worldwide evidence that the Green Energy program has and will continue to fail. People have rejected the short comings and problems associated with batteries, wind, and solar. That means oil, natural gas, nuclear, and coal are still king, and they will be needed for many years to come. Build the infrastructure that will be needed.
Experts say inflation, regulations and a lack of additional oil resources — such as those that would have been supplied by the Keystone XL Pipeline Alaska National Petroleum Reserve, which were canceled by President Joe Biden on his first day in office — have led to rising gas prices in the states. When gas prices increase, so does gross production. The problem, then, is not about how much oil is being produced but rather how much oil is being produced at a low cost.
Gas prices are high because the oil is in Texas, but the liberal dipsticks are in DC!
The area getting hit the hardest is New England, where people burn diesel fuel for heat more than anywhere else in the country.
Don’t you just love well researched mainstream news articles written by reporters just searching for the truth?
Home heating with distillates is usually #2 fuel oil. More BTUs per gallon then diesel. If you’re getting dangerously low in your tank, and the fuel truck can’t get there, or you don’t have the money for a minimum fuel drop and diesel is available, you can haul 5 gallon containers of diesel to your fill pipe and pour it in without a problem. Except, of course, for the hauling and pouring. You could also burn more expensive kerosene if you wanted.
The general rule is, anything that burns #2 can burn diesel, kerosene, or JP5. Anything that burns diesel can burn kerosene or JP5, and some can burn #2. Like most diesel engines. Anything that burns kerosene or JP5 has to be fed by kerosene or JP5. They will work for a short time on the other fuels. A short time…. sometimes measured in minutes.
If you don’t want to clean your boiler out as often and can afford it- burn kerosene. It’s a much cleaner fuel. And can be stored in an outside tank in most areas and still flow to the boiler. My tank is in my basement in CNY. My sister-in-law’s tank in WV is outside. Weather differences. At one of my my facilities we ordered winter mix for the emergency diesels- 50% diesel, 50% kerosene. Doesn’t gel and flows more freely in 0°F weather.
If there’s a shortage of one, there’s a shortage of the others. Bet if you looked JP5 inventories are down.
People in my home area of the far northeast still have their woodstoves so are going to be alright.
I burn 75gal of diesel in my semi everyday delivering, among ither things, food. Guess what is not in the stores when i cant buy any?
BTW: heard today from a couple of our drivers that some truckstops are out of diesel in NC. Better buckle up for Brandons Winter Of Hardship And Death
This is Obama’s third term, not Brandon’s.
I don’t know who to trust on this.
I do know that if this is a real emergency, the Biden Administration is not going to level with us until after the Election.
Oh, it’s a real emergency. But it goes hand in glove with another emergency the Biden administration has created but will of course blame on “Big Oil.”
We have a shortage of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF). DEF is a solution of urea and deionized water. It is injected directly in the diesel vehicles’ exhaust stream where it essentially functions like your gas powered car’s catalytic converter. It lowers the concentration of pollutants that spew from your exhaust pipe/stack.
I’m not certain of the year when some commercial diesel engines were required to use DEF, but at least since 2010 even light duty diesel powered vehicles have been required to use DEF. It is a natural compound and is used in a variety of applications as a source of nitrogen. But most urea is produced synthetically. And while it would be wrong to say that urea is petroleum based, a lot of petroleum is used in the manufacturing as a heating and energy source.
https://www.rix.co.uk/blog/what-is-adblue-explained/
Commercial vehicles use DEF at a far lower rate than they burn diesel. Depending on the application a DEF tank can last thousands of miles. But when your DEF tank runs dry your truck or farm equipment doesn’t run. The emissions control system has to function for your vehicle to run.
An old MB diesel with mechanical fuel injection is looking better and better as Biden continues his deliberate destruction as he builds his bridge to the 11th century. I believe those old diesels will burn anything.
I hope we can all agree that this is trump’s fault. If Trump had been serious about helping America (as opposed to spending 12 hours a day writing mean tweets), he would have set up a Strategic Diesel Reserve.