Our valued CTUP honorary chairman John Catsimatidis has run an oil refinery and gas station business for decades. He warns that this summer could see serious rationing of diesel fuel on the East Coast.
“Biden has made American oil the enemy in Washington,” he tells us.
“If the White House wants to cut inflation, the most important step he could take would be to open up North America for energy production again. If he doesn’t we’re in deep *&%$.”
John Cats, as we call him, cites record low inventories that could lead to shortages for months.” He points to the Diesel crisis as making the supply chain problem worse. Some long-haul truckers spend more than $500 for a fill-up.
Diesel supply is short worldwide due to the Ukraine war, but in the US a bigger reason is that U.S. refineries are pumping out a million fewer gallons of diesel fuel since the closure of six refineries during the pandemic. The U.S. has not opened just one new oil refinery since 1977. National inventories stand at the lowest in 17 years, and prices for diesel have almost doubled in the last year.
Meanwhile, the Energy Information Agency reported this week that, “East Coast jet fuel inventories declined to 6.5 million barrels the week ending April 8, 2022, the lowest for any week since 1990.”