Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco has warned that global petrol and jet fuel stocks could fall to “critical levels” by the summer if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, according to the Financial Times.
The warning marks a rare and high-profile intervention by the world’s largest oil company amid growing concerns over a worsening energy crisis following the war with Iran.
Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said the depletion of onshore reserves was accelerating rapidly, with refined fuels, including petrol and jet fuel, seeing the sharpest decline.
He said the world had effectively lost the equivalent of around one billion barrels of oil since the start of the war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. He added that every additional week the strait remains shut removes about 100 million more barrels from the market.
Nasser said stockpiles were now “the only remaining safety cushion” for the global energy market, but warned that these reserves had already been significantly eroded.
His comments came after Aramco reported higher first-quarter profits, partly driven by rising oil prices and the company’s ability to redirect part of its exports from the Gulf of Oman to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
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