Kerosene supply worries Spain's government: act before shortages emerge

Kerosene shortage: the government sounds the alarm as Europe negotiates with the U.S.

Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo has voiced concern over possible tensions in kerosene supply, against the backdrop of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. While the European Commission negotiates imports from the United States, the underlying debate points to an energy dependence that could reshape Spanish tourism.

The Hormuz blockade and dependence on the U.S.

The Spanish government has joined the EU-wide alarms: "This issue must be addressed before signs of scarcity start to emerge," Cuerpo warned. The threat comes from the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of the crude oil and derivatives consumed by Europe passes. Brussels' response has been to accelerate negotiations with Washington to secure supplies of American kerosene. A solution that, according to some analysts, consolidates Europe as the United States' main energy customer, in a geopolitical landscape where control of shipping routes is becoming critical.

Is a crisis looming for mass tourism?

Kerosene is aviation fuel, and its possible price surge or rationing casts doubt on Spain's tourism model, based on the mass arrival of visitors on low-cost flights. Low-cost airlines are already going bankrupt, and a sustained rise in fuel prices would accelerate the natural selection: only middle- and upper-class tourists would be able to afford to fly, while those with less purchasing power would stay home. This would directly hit sun-and-beach destinations and the Airbnb property boom, which depend on a constant flow of visitors. Some voices point out that peak oil is already here, and that the scarcity of fossil fuels will trigger wars over resources and a destruction of economic activity that spares not even tourism.

The question left hanging is whether peak oil, as some analysts warn, will start to impose physical limits on an economic model based on cheap air travel. Meanwhile, the political and business elite will keep flying: may the Falcon never run out of kerosene.

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