Diesel shortage incoming?

Trump has threatened new economic sanctions on Iran in a tacit admission that his bombing war hasn’t brought Iran to capitulate to his masculine dominance. It’s not clear how these sanctions will relieve the stranglehold Iran holds on the Strait of Hormuz. It’s more likely that they’ll increase the cost of food and gas in the US.

“This week the news broke that the price spread (“crack”) between the price of a barrel of crude oil and the price refiners want to be paid to produce a refined barrel rose above $100. This statistic translates into a warning that gasoline and diesel prices will remain high for some time to come. That is bad news for Western economies. When you go to the grocery store, there is food to buy there because a truck running on diesel shipped it over. No diesel, no food. Or at least pricey diesel, expensive food. Trucks run on diesel, and some 70% of commodities shipped in the US are transported by truck. High diesel prices mean high everything prices.

“A key problem is that the Strait of Hormuz is still closed for all practical purposes, and not many oil or LNG tankers are transiting it. Another problem is a reduction in refinery capacity. Bousso estimates that 20 percent of the refineries in the Gulf have been damaged by the Israeli-US war on Iran and Iran’s ripostes. Crude oil is just worthless sludge until it is refined into products such as gasoline and diesel. Loss of refining capacity equals loss of fuel.

“This loss of 9 million barrels a day has been cushioned by the release of US, European and Chinese petroleum reserves, which have been run down to levels not seen for a quarter of a century. But obviously if the conflict in the Gulf continues for several more months, as it gives every evidence of doing, sooner or later the other shoe will drop, and consumers will be hit with very high prices and, worse, shortages.”

Also too, freight trains in the US are diesel-electric.

Trump’s ego won’t let him walk away. Instead, he’s tightening the screws on the US economy. Not good for American families. Not a good look for the Trump GOP going into the November midterms.

https://www.juancole.com/2026/08/netanyahu-threatens-shortages.html

 

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