by Michael Snyder, 9/22/26
'It has begun. Hundreds of gas stations all over France are reporting that they are out of at least one type of fuel, and there are quite a few nations in Asia that are now imposing very strict measures in order to conserve energy. I have no idea why this isn’t making more news here in the United States. Maybe the big news outlets don’t think that there is any way that this could ever happen here. Or maybe there is a coordinated effort to keep the public calm. I don’t know. But without a doubt, this is a very big deal.
I knew that Europe was facing a severe energy crunch, but I didn’t realize that things had gotten so bad already. It is being reported that 16 percent of all gas stations in France are out of at least one type of fuel… Official French pump data on Monday showed that 16 percent of stations are short of at least one main fuel, diesel or petrol. That was slightly better than Sunday evening (17 percent) but worse than Friday (13 percent). About 9,900 stations are in the count, according to prix-carburants.gouv.fr. Shortages were worst this morning in Pays de la Loire (20 percent); Grand Est (19 percent); Île-de-France, Centre-Val de Loire, and Normandy (18 percent); Nouvelle-Aquitaine (17 percent); and Brittany, Hauts-de-France, and Occitanie (16 percent).
We aren’t just talking about a few isolated cases. We are talking about hundreds upon hundreds of French gas stations that are experiencing outages. This is serious. If you can actually find fuel in France, prices are absolutely outrageous. The average price of a liter of diesel in France is up to €2.406, which is approximately $10.45 a gallon. Europe is facing its worst energy crisis in history, and there is no end in sight.
In fact, Saudi Arabia has told Europe that there will be no shipments of oil for them for the entire month of October…The trigger this week was a drone strike on Sept. 10 that closed Saudi Arabia’s East West pipeline, the line carrying crude from the eastern oil fields to Yanbu on the Red Sea without touching Hormuz. Aramco has now told European refining customers they will receive no crude at all in October under long-term contracts, reported Bloomberg. The decision applies to every European buyer. What this means is that the shortages that we are witnessing in Europe right now are likely to get even worse.
Meanwhile, several countries in Asia have been forced to institute fuel rationing. In Pakistan, many types of businesses are being forced to close early in order to save energy…From September 17, shops and malls across Pakistan must close by 09:00 PM, wedding halls by 10:00 PM, and restaurants by 11:00 PM. This Cabinet Division order runs for the next three months. Moreover, government vehicles lose 50% of their fuel allocation, with security fleets exempt. The government banned new vehicle purchases and official foreign travel, and ordered a 5% cut to non-employee spending for fiscal 2026-27.
In Bangladesh, almost all businesses must now shut down by 8 o’clock at the latest… Shops, markets, and shopping centres must shut by 8 PM, an hour earlier than before, and lit billboards go dark from 7 PM. Only hospitals, pharmacies, food shops, and emergency services are exempt. Industry is taking the same hit. Garment factories, the country’s main source of foreign currency, face rationing and temporary closures, and one Gazipur plant reported four or five power cuts a day.
In Indonesia, there are now extremely strict rules about when citizens are allowed to fill up their vehicles…By September 11, queues at Makassar pumps ran as long as one kilometer. Ride-hailing drivers described three-hour waits and called it the worst shortage they had ever seen. South Sulawesi’s answer was rationing by decree on September 12. Cars can only refuel on days matching their plate number, private vehicles must show a fuel gauge below one bar, and trucks and buses may fill up only between 06:00 PM and 04:00 AM. I always felt like Asia was going to get hit harder than anyone else because they are so dependent on oil from the Middle East.
In Nepal, an extremely serious shortage of cooking gas has created a major national crisis Bottling plants in the Kathmandu Valley were delivering just 5% of the 35,000 to 40,000 cylinders the capital needs each day, the Federation of Nepal Gas Distributors told the Kathmandu Post. Some households have gone a month without a refill. Restaurants say they are close to shutting down, and the Kathmandu Post now describes residents cutting back on food. Nepal imports every litre of fuel through India, so it sits at the end of a supply chain that is itself under strain.
We desperately need the war in the Middle East to end. But instead, fighting could escalate at any moment. On Sunday, I discussed many of the signs that a major escalation could soon happen. Well, it turns out that President Trump actually ordered a huge wave of airstrikes but they were called off at the last minute… Trump had ordered strikes against the Houthis to begin around 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, but the military was notified shortly after 2 p.m. on Sunday that the order was canceled, the two U.S. officials said.
Sometimes I feel like I am riding a roller coaster. You just never know when there is going to be another change of heart. We are being told that fighter jets had been loaded up with munitions and were all ready to depart when the attack was suddenly canceled… After days of shifting positions in the office of U.S. President Donald Trump, and despite his latest conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the president called off a series of planned airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen at the last minute. According to The New York Times, citing senior U.S. officials, munitions had already been loaded onto fighter jets that were ready for takeoff when Trump announced the change in plans.
Of course the pendulum could swing back in the direction of more conflict tomorrow. In an address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, President Trump warned that he could “annihilate the Islamic Republic” by driving them “into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations”…President Donald Trump told the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday that he has a “big decision” to make when it comes to the war against Iran.
“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before? Maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?” Trump said.
“Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations? But I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election, because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” Trump continued. “They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election. What they don’t realize is that I’m not running. I did that already and won in a landslide.”
That is extremely strong language. On the other side, the Iranians are warning that they are prepared to use “new weapons with new capabilities” if the U.S. attacks again… Iran warned Monday it would use “new weapons with new capabilities” if the U.S. launched a fresh assault after President Donald Trump ramped up the rhetoric against Tehran over the weekend. “If a new aggression takes place, we will definitely change the weapons and geography of the war,” Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency. Mohebbi did not provide details on what the new weapons were or which new locations could be hit. Is Iran bluffing, or do they actually have some “new weapons” that they are prepared to unleash? I suppose that time will tell.
For now, the flow of oil out of the Middle East continues to be way below normal levels, and the global energy crisis just continues to intensify. On Tuesday, the average price of a gallon of diesel in the United States hit another new record high…
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It is hard to believe that the average price of a gallon of diesel in the United States is now up to $6.52. A year ago, it was just $3.68. Most of our trucks, most of our trains and most of our tractors run on diesel. So just about everything you buy at the store is about to get significantly more expensive.
The global energy crisis has entered a very painful chapter. I don’t see any way that we are going to avoid a major economic downturn. Our entire standard of living depends on cheap energy, but energy is no longer cheap. The changes that are ahead are going to be excruciating, and the world is simply not ready for what is about to happen next."
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