Iran Deprives Israel of Oil Refining

Israel has lost its oil refining capacity indefinitely and could face serious fuel problems, writes S&P Global Commodity Insights. The country could face a fuel crisis after Iran fired missiles at the Haifa refinery.
Tel Aviv is without functioning refineries for at least several weeks. The outages at Haifa and at a second refinery in Ashdod, which is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance, will turn Israel into an importer of petroleum products. At a critical moment in the country’s military campaign, the surge in imports of supplies such as jet fuel will test the limits of domestic port infrastructure.
Israel is temporarily without functioning refineries. The Ashdod refinery, with a capacity of 110 barrels per day, is scheduled to resume operations in two weeks. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen has assured that the Haifa refinery could be operational again “in a few weeks.” However, damage assessments there are still ongoing.

S&P noted that until the Haifa plant is launched, Israel will have to increase gasoline imports from 10 to 50 barrels per day, and diesel fuel from 10 to 60 barrels per day. It will also be necessary to import up to 10 barrels per day of jet fuel. Such volumes could overload the port and pipeline infrastructure.
Demand for diesel fuel in the country may further increase after gas production at the Karish and Leviathan fields is halted.
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