Ireland Fuel Blockades: Nation's Supply at Risk

0:00It's April 9th. This is Europe News today, your AI-powered source for European news. Protesters have blockaded three key fuel sites in Ireland, the Whitegate refinery in Cork, the Foyne's Terminal in Limerick, and one in Galway. These spots handle about half the country's petrol and diesel supplies. Whitegate is the only place we refine our own fuel from oil, covering around a third of needs, while the others store imports. The blockades are stopping tankers from moving, and much of the nation's emergency fuel reserves are stuck there too. Guardi are on-site, but nothing's changed overnight, so fuel can't reach service stations. Already, some busy stations around Galway ran dry yesterday, and fuels for Ireland warns more for courts could follow today. It's mostly hitting Cork, Limerick, and Galway right now, with no issues at Dublin Port yet, but Dublin handles the other half of imports, so any trouble there would spark nationwide shortages fast. Prices aren't jumping, because retailers already paid for the fuel.

1:01It's just a delivery snag. Diesel sits at about 2 euros, 17 cents a liter, petrol around 1 euro, 91 cents. That's up 8 or 9 cents, since last month's excise cuts of 20 cents on diesel, and 15 on petrol. Oil markets stay wild with middle east tensions, but for now, keep an eye on those blockades, they could tighten things up quick if they spread.