Government recommends that citizens evaluate taking out travel insurance
The Swedish government issued a warning this Tuesday due to the risk of a shortage of aviation fuel in Europe, as a result of the conflict in the Middle East and the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We warned early about the risk of not having enough fuel for aviation,” said Energy Minister Ebba Busch at a press conference.
The Swedish government recommends that anyone traveling by plane, especially outside Europe, stay informed about the situation in the country and possible travel insurance coverage.
The warning is based on an analysis by the Swedish Energy Agency, which does not, however, consider that there is a risk of rationing in the short term.
“In the worst case scenario, one could think about rationing, but it is something that is far away, we are not talking about the here and now”, said the director of this agency, Caroline Asserup, at the same conference.
The official clarified that access to gasoline and diesel in Sweden is not threatened, neither in the short nor in the long term.
“Sweden and the Nordic countries have extensive refining capacity and we use, above all, oil from the North Sea,” said Asserup, who classified the risk of gasoline and diesel rationing as “low”.
Ebba Busch highlighted that, even if a peace agreement were signed now, it would take time to reestablish the supply of oil and gas globally, and cited as an example the consequences of the lack of fuel in Italy, where in some airports it was already necessary to give priority to certain flights.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated at the press conference that, although the gas and oil crisis is global, Europe is less affected and Sweden, “much less than most European countries”.
The Swedish government had warned last week that it would not rule out measures to reduce energy consumption or ration the use of fuel if the war in Iran prolongs, although it ruled out that this would be something it would consider in the short term.
