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Harbingers of what is to come: isolated diesel shortages are now being reported in the former United States. {Newsweek 17 September}
https://www.newsweek.com/some-gas-stations-out-of-diesel-as-prices-surge-12454753
FTA: Photos appearing to show gas stations running out of diesel have spread across social media as U.S. fuel prices climb to record highs, but industry data does not currently show any widespread shortages.
One image posted on X showed a station in North Texas displaying an "out of diesel" notice. Another post on X said a station in Orlando, Florida, had also run out.
The images arrive as concerns grow over the availability and cost of diesel as global supplies tighten due to the ongoing U.S.-Israel war in Iran, which has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important shipping routes through which about one-fifth of global petroleum consumption normally passes. Vessel traffic has fallen sharply owing to the fighting and attacks on regional energy infrastructure since the war was launched on February 28.
However, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, cautioned against interpreting individual stations as evidence of national shortages.
"GasBuddy is not seeing any high level outages in our data, nor through our Pay with GasBuddy card," De Haan wrote on X, adding that current shortages remained within normal levels.
In a second post, De Haan warned of "false alarmists" spreading claims that stations are widely running out of diesel.
Individual stations can temporarily run short for a number of reasons, including high local demand or delays in fuel deliveries. GasBuddy's nationwide data indicates that, at least for now, the incidents being shared online remain isolated. For now, there is an increasingly tight and expensive diesel market, but not a nationwide wave of gas stations running out of fuel.
De Haan told Newsweek that reports of outages posted on social media should be taken with a "grain of salt" and that there is "lots of misinformation that is being misinterpreted or elevated."
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