The United States is the biggest exporter of petroleum products, including diesel. But with a fifth of the world’s oil supply choked off at Hormuz, even the US could not make up for the shortfall.Washington: The US-Israeli war with Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a vital energy route — have triggered one of the biggest oil supply disruptions in history. This has led to a massive hike in global crude prices, but not all fuels are moving the same way. In the United States, diesel prices saw a spike of roughly 45 per cent, compared to about 35 per cent for petrol. That could have severe consequences for the diesel-dependent industries in the US, including the transportation and farming sectors. While most of the individuals buying petrol can, for example, carpool or forgo some trips, diesel-dependent truckers, farmers and other users of diesel may not be able to cut back easily. Why Diesel Is A Bigger Crisis Even before the war started, the global diesel supplies were tight in the US. That meant there wasn’t much buffer when exports from the Gulf, a major source of diesel and jet fuel, were disrupted. Adding to the challenge is the fact that, unlike petrol, which is relatively well supplied, production of diesel and jet fuel depends on specific types of crude oil and refining processes– a lot of which happens in the Gulf region. “This is why diesel more than doubles, while gasoline (known as petrol in most parts of the world) basically moves up in tandem with crude,” Joe DeLaura, a global energy strategist at Rabobank, told the New York Times. “You have a shortage of diesel, you have a shortage of jet fuel, you have a shortage of fuel oil. Gasoline is relatively well supplied,” he added. Before the war started, refineries in the Middle East exported more diesel and jet fuel than petrol, and no other nation in the world has the capacity to make up for that loss.
