Attention to the energy emergency. In the coming weeks, already in the next few days, fuels could be scarce and rationing could even begin as in the days of the 1973 oil shock.
According to the retail and wholesale distribution companies of fuels belonging to Assopetroli and Assoenergia (Confcommercio), the availability of petrol and diesel oil is significantly decreasing throughout Italy.
In short, that very high alert on costs, prices, tariffs and energy availability no longer concerns only methane and electricity but also extends to petroleum fuels.
Contraction of petrol and diesel reserves
The companies associated with Assopetroli-Assoenergia, which distribute fuels both through the road network and wholesale, have observed in the last week a significant contraction in the availability of products on wholesale networks (such as wholesale petrol and diesel pumps, internal in garages, at the service of company fleets, in interports, in taxi cooperatives, in truck or bus depots and so on), a contraction in petroleum products that has worsened in these days before holidays.
The risk of rationing
«The scarcity of fuels on the market risks penalizing entire production, industrial and agricultural sectors. The continuity of supplies to the public administration and public utility services is also at risk – warns Assopetroli-Assoenergia – that distribution companies could stem only by resorting to fuel rationing “, or alternatively by removing the supply of other uses deemed non-essential . “Such an emergency initiative could only buffer the problem without eliminating the risk, for production sectors, of running out of fuel indefinitely”.
This could also aggravate the problem of fraud and tax misconduct, a problem repeatedly reported by the association, which is committed together with the institutions in the controls against serious abuses.
Meanwhile, consumption is growing
In recent days, the UNEM, which unites the oil companies, has released new data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition on November consumption, which have marked a progress of 13.8% compared to 2020, resulting practically in line with the figure for 2019. In particular, motor fuels grew in November not only compared to 2020, a year marked by health clauses, but also with 2019 (94 thousand tons more), “benefiting from an improving economic context and ‘increase in the consumption of services (travel and recreational activities such as cinemas, theaters, stadiums, discos) which has favored greater daily use of private vehicles,’ warns UNEM.