Imagine long lines at the gas station, soaring fuel prices, or sporadic power outages. Or imagine there’s no water coming from the faucet. Each of these scenarios could be a sign of a fuel availability crisis.

Yet fuel availability is much more than point-of-use. Fuels are a natural resource, and with the Earth being finite, there are only so many to go around.

Huge and sparsely populated countries like Canada need only a fraction of their natural resources to function. Conversely, dense urban areas like New York offer little in terms of natural resources yet require vast amounts of fuel to survive.

Let’s explore how fuel availability is a fundamental driving force worldwide, affecting everything from politics to export policies and even bringing about wars.

Why Is Fuel Availability Crucial?

Fuel powers our world. It’s at the epicenter of our energy solutions, from cooking to transport to heating and industrial processes.

Power plants burn fossil fuels to create electricity to light our homes. Crude oil has allowed us to drive automobiles, fly planes, and build enormous cargo ships, enabling globalization. Access to what feels like unfettered energy through fuel has moved society forward from the first Industrial Revolution to today’s fourth revolution driven by the internet, renewable energy, and AI. A fifth—the cognitive age—awaits.

On a micro-scale, anyone living in a remote environment, particularly in areas that suffer brutal winters, knows only too well the fear of running out of fuel for their heating systems. Put simply, fuel availability drives the basic needs of our modern world.

Which Fuels Are Critical When It Comes to Fuel Availability?

The world relies on fossil fuels for most of its energy. In 2022, the world’s primary energy sources were:

Crude oil (33%)
Coal (28%)
Natural gas (24.5%)
Hydropower (2.7%)
Bioenergy (6.9%)
Wind energy (1.3%)
Solar power (0.8%)

In the United States, transport (36%) swallows the most power, followed by industry (35%) and people’s homes (16%). Automobiles need diesel, gasoline, or even ethanol to run. Power plants burn natural gas to generate electricity. Everywhere, the great energy machine guzzles fuel.

Digging further, over two-thirds of a home’s energy goes on air conditioning and water and space heating. Popular heating systems run on natural gas, heating oil, propane, kerosene, biomass, and electricity.

All this shows that fossil fuels are critical to powering our lifestyles, transport systems, and economies, not to mention keeping us warm. And when any natural resource is in high demand, free-market economics come into play. These systems are open to disruption.

Why Do Some Regions Suffer Fuel Availability Issues?

But fuel availability is a much broader, global game that can have huge impacts at very local levels. For example, in 2012, Superstorm Sandy left New York State suffering power outages and fuel supply issues. Disruption restricted diesel fuel and gasoline availability, hindering the rescue effort.

In response, New York State has established the New York State Strategic Fuel Reserve to ward off any future fuel availability disruptions. The plan includes gas station backups to refuel emergency services and backup generators.

Why Do Different Regions Have Varying Fuel Availability Issues?

Delivering fuel to the point of use may create fuel availability issues. Stockpiling is the only way to minimize shortages.

Daily global trading of fuels and an interconnected energy system sees billions of dollars of fuels moving daily through pipelines. Disruptions can occur quickly through shocks to the system caused by natural disasters, political tensions, war, accidents, or regulatory changes.

What Are Some Examples of Fuel Availability Issues?

The COVID-19 pandemic threw global supply chains into chaos. With many countries in lockdown, oil demand crashed. Oil companies had to pay people to store crude oil rather than buy it, a historic first.

In contrast, the lack of fuel availability drove the U.S. to participate in the Gulf War in Iraq in 1990 and again in the Iraq War (2003-2011).

In 2021, despite being an oil-producing nation, the United Kingdom’s lack of fuel supply stocks was exposed when a lack of HGV drivers prevented gasoline from reaching fueling stations, provoking shortages. Almost one in five French fueling stations lacked gasoline during its March 2023 strikes.

The Ukraine war saw European countries in the EU vote to ban imports of Russian natural gas. However, sales continued in some countries because they couldn’t find enough new sources. Germany looked to Russian coal as an alternative fuel to replace gas. All these geopolitical shifts instigated a global energy crisis. Global fuel prices rocketed as governments and industries scrambled to secure energy security.

Why Is Fuel Availability Scarcer During the Winter Months?

The winter months in cold climates require heating to keep buildings warm. People and industries in remote areas need to stay warm. The majority use fossil fuels, from propane to heating oil to coal, for warmth, cooking, and, in many cases, survival. Higher demand for fuel pushes up prices, especially if there’s a prolonged cold snap that drains stockpiles.

How Can You Avoid Winter Fuel Shortages?

Businesses and people can avoid winter fuel shortages by taking the following steps:

Knowing your energy use and having sufficient stockpiles of fuel to cover winter.
Ordering fuel early rather than waiting for the onset of winter as emergency deliveries can be expensive.
Having a backup plan. Have a company or home generator, alternative fuel sources, or, if possible, install a renewable energy source like a wind turbine.
Implement energy efficiency measures as soon as possible to safeguard supplies. These include having appropriate insulation, heating only required rooms, and ensuring all equipment is in good working order.

Fuel Availability: Backup Planning

Governments, businesses, and homeowners all need backup plans for fuel.

For example, European countries have started switching natural gas suppliers following the Ukraine war. The United States, Norway, and Algeria have all upped production and exports to the EU. European governments have reloaded their reserve tanks to get them through the winter. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanks have also been added and filled.

Yet economic and political policy often trumps energy security. The United States was the top oil-producing country in 2022. While the nation has healthy reserves, it’s also the leading consumer of oil, burning today what could be saved for tomorrow.

How Does Globalization Affect Fuel Availability?

The U.S. and its dependence on oil is a perfect case study for fuel availability.

The United States sits atop around 264 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves. In 2022, it used about 7.3 billion barrels of crude oil. That gives the country approximately 36 years of crude oil self-sufficiency.

Global markets, profits, and the need to create employment see the U.S. government and oil industry import and export oil. The country is a net exporter of crude oil, effectively lessening its grip on fuel availability security. In other words, it sends out more than it buys back.

In 2022, the United States exported 3.49 billion barrels of crude oil and imported 3.04 billion barrels. That same year, it imported 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil from Canada, simultaneously exporting 0.31 billion barrels back to Canada.

Globalization and the ability to transport fuels worldwide create these contradictions in fuel availability. Similar examples may be found for natural gas, LNG, coal, and even biomass fuels like wood pellets.

Are Fuel Supply Chains Reliable?

Fuel supply chains are reliable as long as there is fuel for transport, no natural disasters causing disruption, and political will. Fuel supply chains include everything from production sites like mines or refineries, pipelines that transport fuels, trucks and cargo ships, and storage sites.

Threats to each fuel supply section include:

Extreme weather, like the deadly Texas winter storm of February 2021, which spiked energy prices and demand.
Hacking and cyberattacks, like the Colonial Pipeline attack in May 2021 that provoked fuel shortages.
Trade disputes such as the recent one in Western Australia that spiked European gas prices by 40% overnight.
Supply issues such as oil rigs or coal mines closing down reduce supply and can increase prices.
Accidents closing down production sites limiting supply.
Regulatory changes making business and exports trickier.
Foreign policy and regime change disrupting fuel supply chains.

Such valuable reserves dictate government moves. For example, Venezuela currently has the largest oil reserves in the world, followed by Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Iran. Eager to secure more oil, Venezuela recently voted to claim the Essequibo region in Guyana, an oil-rich rainforest, in an attempt to increase its supply territory.

Is Renewable Energy Changing Fuel Supply Chains?

Alternative fuel sources, including intermittent renewable energy sources, are beginning to impact fuel supply chains.

Renewable energy is increasingly important in electricity generation, with solar panels producing power during sunny days and wind turbines when the wind blows. These can replace or support traditional power plants, meaning fewer fuels burning, easing stockpiling pressures, and reducing climate-changing causing greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable can be local, national, and international. Indeed, in 2022, China exported more than $50 billion of renewable energy. Morocco is building a solar and wind farm to power 7 million UK homes via an undersea cable, with utility-scale storage built in.

These new energy sources will become strong performers in the fuel availability mix as the world follows its energy transition to greener power supplies.

What Is the Future of Fuel Availability?

Many countries have pledged to be net-zero emission zones by 2050. It’s part of the efforts to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by the same deadline.

The recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) saw leaders agree that the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era must begin. Something has to happen because the cupboard will soon be bare. At current consumption levels, there are 47 years of crude oil, 52 years of natural gas, and 133 years of coal. No amount of stockpiling can prevent the end of these natural resources.

Governments face a choice: go to war over what limited resources are left, buy them all up and stock them, or find a new way. Renewable energy will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel availability. Renewable energy is replenishable, unlike fossil fuels.

Energy will continue to drive the world, economy, and politics. Fuel availability—having enough of it to power our systems—will remain. The difference is where we harvest that energy from and how we redistribute it.

As technologies advance, fuel availability may be measured more in wind speeds, sunshine hours, and tidal currents than in tonnes and liters of fossil fuels. Fuel availability may be more about connecting power grids via cables rather than acquiring raw materials.

This sentence is only here for keywords. The KW issue is ‘fuel availability’ basically brings up search sites for petrol prices, and not discussions about fuel scarcity/availability. Have left here for editor consideration. Cheers!

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