Jet fuel supply in the U.S. is at “critical levels,” World Fuel sales director Wesley Earl told attendees yesterday at the Florida Aviation Business Association (FABA) annual conference in Tampa. Supply is currently at 45 days, well off the normal 105- to 150-day range, he noted.
While the U.S. is a net oil exporter, Earl said refineries there are set up to process heavy crude mainly imported from the Middle East, not the light sweet crude produced domestically via fracking. “Supply shortages take time to resolve,” he explained, adding that it takes a ship carrying oil more than 50 days to go from the Middle East to a U.S. port. The last major tanker carrying oil from the Middle East docked in California earlier this month, and no further arrivals are pending due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz since the Iran war started on February 28.
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