Europe has only six weeks’ supply of jet fuel left owing to Iran war, says energy chief
Europe has only six weeks’ supply of jet fuel left before shortages will hit because of the Iran war, according to the head of a global energy watchdog.Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said there would be flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies from the Middle East were not restored within the coming weeks.“I can tell you soon we will hear the news that some of the flights from city A to city B might be cancelled as a result of lack of jet fuel,” he told the Associated Press.The US-Israel war on Iran has caused turmoil in global energy markets since the first strikes at the end of February.In retaliation, Iran has effectively closed the strait of Hormuz, a vital export route for oil from the Gulf.
The US and Iran last week agreed a two-week ceasefire, but talks on ending the war failed over the weekend.Indirect talks brokered by Pakistan are continuing.Brent crude oil futures prices, a global benchmark, remain more than 30% higher than they were before the war.The rapid increase in petrol prices has put pressure on the US president, Donald Trump.However, there have not yet been outright shortages of jet fuel as shipments that set off before the war continued to arrive.
The final cargoes have now made it to Europe.Birol said Europe had “maybe six weeks or so [of][ jet fuel left”, AP reported.His comments add to that of Airports Council International Europe, a lobby group that last week wrote to the EU’s energy and transport commissioners saying the bloc was three weeks away from shortages.Airports and airlines tend to have about six weeks of fuel supplies in normal times, according to people in the industry.However, the Iran war has dragged on long enough that any extra reserves in the system are being used up, and other suppliers do not have enough capacity to replace supplies that come through the Gulf.
“In the past there was a group called Dire Straits,” said Birol.“It’s a dire strait now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy.And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world.”The impact will be “higher petrol prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices”, Birol told AP, with some parts of the world “hit worse than the others”.Some airlines have cancelled flights that would be loss-making because of higher fuel prices, particularly if they did not have hedging arrangements in place to insure against big increases.
However, even those who have hedged may have to consider flight cancellations.The British airline easyJet on Thursday said it had no concerns about fuel supplies for the next month.Kenton Jarvis, the easyJet chief executive, said: “We have visibility to the middle of May and we have no concerns.”
Europe has only six weeks’ supply of jet fuel left owing to Iran war, says energy chief
Europe has only six weeks’ supply of jet fuel left before shortages will hit because of the Iran war, according to the head of a global energy watchdog.Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said there would be flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies from the Middle East were not restored within the coming weeks.“I can tell you soon we will hear the news that some of the flights from city A to city B might be cancelled as a result of lack of jet fuel,” he told the Associated Press.The US-Israel war on Iran has caused turmoil in global energy markets since the first strikes at the end of February. In retaliation, Iran has effectively closed the strait of Hormuz, a vital export route for oil from the Gulf
Tesco warns profits could fall amid Iran war uncertainty
Tesco has warned that profits could fall back in the year ahead, citing increased uncertainty caused by the conflict in the Middle East.Ken Murphy, its chief executive, said that despite concerns about the impact of the closure of the strait of Hormuz on oil, gas and linked chemicals, the UK’s largest supermarket chain was “in good shape” on stocks of fuel for its petrol stations and distribution network.He said Tesco was not currently seeing problems with the supply of food or groceries, or “meaningful” inflation except at the pump on its forecourts.Murphy said he did not recognise predictions from the UK’s Food and Drink Federation that food inflation could hit 9% amid fears of shortages. “None of our growers, suppliers or manufacturers have flagged any supply issues,” he said
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Amazon enters agreements for nine Australian renewable projects to power datacentres
Amazon has entered power agreements with nine new renewable projects in New South Wales and Victoria, as the technology company seeks to source renewable power for its datacentre operations in Australia.The nine deals, including one windfarm and 10 solar and battery projects, will take the amount of renewable energy Amazon is sourcing in Australia from 430MW to nearly 1GW.The power purchase agreements are contracts between energy providers and datacentre operators to meet the expected demands of their centres. Amazon has entered into agreements for more than 20 projects in Australia as it aims to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040.These include power from Victoria’s Golden Plains 2, the largest windfarm in Australia, which began operating in 2024
‘It was stressful’: inside Scotland women’s Rugby World Cup contract wrangle
“There were players who were definitely struggling,” says the former Scotland international Beth Blacklock of the contract uncertainty that surrounded the squad before their run to the 2025 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.In pre-World Cup camps talks were taking place between players and the Scottish Rugby Union. Some of the 32-player squad had deals which ran until May 2026 but the rest of the team had arrangements which ended in October after the World Cup had concluded.The talks, which took place before the tournament began, were described as “disruptive” to their preparations by the Scotland captain, Rachel Malcolm, at the time. In November last year the SRU announced an increased number of 35 players would be financially supported but only 21 of the 32 World Cup squad were to receive a contract
Gossip around Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers’s relationship misreads the WNBA
The former UConn star’s draft night should have been about her talent. Instead, speculation shows how the league is still being viewed through the wrong lensSign up for our WNBA 30 newsletterFor the first time in a while, there was no consensus on who would go No 1 overall in the WNBA draft this year. When the Dallas Wings did make their pick, they chose Azzi Fudd, who had distinguished herself under Geno Auriemma at UConn, including a national championship in 2025.The moment she was picked was pure: a delighted and seemingly nervous Fudd joined WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert onstage. She took photos with her jersey, made it through the ESPN interview that immediately followed, and beamed at her family and teammates in the audience
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