Jet Fuel Prices Double in Europe After Strait of Hormuz Closure

Maersk faces an extra $500 million per month in costs due to the Middle East war. Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc said the company "can’t shoulder" extra costs from rising oil prices and that the shipping giant had deliberately taken a "very cautious approach" during the Middle East crisis. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has hit oil supplies, doubling the cost of jet fuel.

9 million bpd in the same month last year, according to Kpler data reported by CNBC. 8 million barrels in the same week in 2025. "Jet is incredibly short," Valero Energy Chief Operating Officer Gary Simmons said.

Valero boosted jet fuel to 30 percent of its total distillate production in March, up from the typical 26 percent. The company plans to start producing jet fuel at a couple of refineries that do not currently make the fuel. Marathon Petroleum increased its jet fuel production capacity by 30,000 bpd at its Garyville, Louisiana refinery in March.

U.S. surged more than 400 percent to 94,000 bpd in April compared to February when the war started. Lufthansa Group expects the surge in jet fuel prices to cost it an additional $2 billion this year.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is leading to a shortage in kerosene supply and thus to a significant increase in kerosene prices, the airline group said. Lufthansa slashed 20,000 short-haul flights through October due in part to fuel costs and said it would remove 20,000 flights between now and the end of October. Two million airline seats have been cut from this month’s schedules.

About 13,000 fewer flights will operate in May around the world, according to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium reported by The Guardian. Jet fuel prices have doubled in Europe over the past year to $187 per barrel as of May 1, according to the International Air Transport Association via CNBC. U.S.

And Israeli airstrikes, jet fuel was trading at $831 per tonne in Europe. By early April, jet fuel had touched $1,838 per tonne in Europe. Jet fuel prices have since retreated but have consistently remained above $1,500 per tonne.

The Gulf region accounts for about 20 percent of the fuel traded on international markets each day. Europe as a whole is heavily reliant on imports, more than half of which typically come from the Gulf. The UK is particularly dependent on imports, which make up 65 percent of what it needs.

There have been five refinery closures in Europe in the last two-and-a-bit years. The Strait of Hormuz has been blocked for the past eight weeks. The European Union will face a systemic jet fuel shortage if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen, according to Airports Council International Europe via CNBC.

Fuel shortages would hit Europe if exports through the Strait of Hormuz do not resume in a significant and stable way within three weeks of April 9. There was no evidence of actual shortages in Europe as of April 21 but commercial jet fuel stocks are under pressure, European Commissioner for Transport Apostolos Tzitzikostas said.

Before the conflict, Europe as a whole had about 37 days' supply of jet fuel available.

Stocks at the key Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub are at their lowest level in six years. The head of the International Energy Agency warned that Europe had maybe six weeks of jet fuel left in mid-April. Fuel shortages will become a growing concern over the next several weeks, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said.

"The price signals in some of these places have been quite extreme and what they're really running into now is a concern about supply," Wirth added. "It's going to take weeks and probably into months to normalize supply chains after the conflict ends," Wirth said. The strait needs to be checked for mines which will take time.

Hundreds of ships also need to exit the Gulf and be redeployed around the world to normalize supply chains. The market had a grace period as tankers that departed the Persian Gulf just before the war arrived at their destinations in March and April, said Andrew O'Brien. The respite is coming to an end now that the pre-war shipments have all arrived.

The market has also relied on commercial inventories of crude oil and refined products to ease the impact but those stocks will eventually draw down to working minimums, said Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods. Some countries that depend on energy imports could face critical shortages by June or July, O'Brien said.

Fuel typically accounts for 25-30 percent of airline operating costs, according to the International Air Transport Association via BBC News.

EasyJet hedged 80 percent of its fuel supply for the first half of the year at $717 per tonne but finding the remainder at prevailing prices cost EasyJet an extra £25m in March alone. A flight from London to Melbourne in June now costs 76 percent more than it did last year, according to Teneo via BBC News.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the company would do whatever it takes to recover 100 percent of the increase in jet fuel prices as quickly as possible.

Virgin Atlantic has introduced surcharges ranging from £50 on a return economy class ticket to £360 for a business class fare. U.S. and west Africa.