(RoyalPatriot.com )- Mansfield Energy, a major fuel supply company, issued a warning about diesel fuel shortages affecting the United States, according to a report by Epoch Times. Several Southeastern states, including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina are expected to be impacted according to the supplier, adding that the Northeast will experience “extremely high prices.”
“Poor pipeline shipping economics and historically low diesel inventories are combining to cause shortages in various markets throughout the Southeast,” the company stated in a supply alert. “These have been occurring sporadically, with areas like Tennessee seeing particularly acute challenges.”
As a result of “tight” supply, the company noted that fuel prices will be 30 to 80 cents high than the posted market average, adding that usually “posters can sell many loads of fuel before running out of supply,” but that now they only have one to two loads.
“That means fuel suppliers have to pull from higher cost options, at a time when low-high spreads are much wider than normal,” the company continued. “At times, carriers are having to visit multiple terminals to find supply, which delays deliveries and strains local trucking capacity.”
Mansfield has issued an “Alert Level 4” to signify rapidly devolving conditions in an attempt to address the market volatility. The company is also issuing a “Code Red” to the Southeast, “requesting 72-hour notice for deliveries when possible to ensure fuel and freight can be secured at economical levels.”
Diesel, which currently sits around and average of $5.31 a gallon, is used for most shipping across the United States. Bottlenecks in the supply chain, attributed to the pandemic, have further exacerbated rising price levels with the Consumer Price Index year-over-year in September at increasing to 8.2%. Energy specifically has increased nearly 20% over a 12-month period.
There are also grave concerns that the United States is running out of diesel, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.
Republicans are blaming the Biden administration for its policies around oil drilling and pipeline construction, calling the president “anti-fracking.” As the U.S. moves away from energy independence, the White House has released tens of millions of barrels from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, reportedly bringing the level of barrels remaining, around 400 million, to the lowest it has been in decades.
