When countries begin to behave in lockstep, as they did during covid, one needs to ask questions. Fuel rationing, moving on to lock downs, is an extremely likely scenario. This would, of course, fit the Agenda 2030 priorities, namely extreme localisation and very limited access to resources. However, imposition of a digital control grid of the kind the WEF has in mind seems too neat and tidy an outcome for the war that’s currently raging in the Middle East. It seems much more likely that the situation will get out of hand in ways which are difficult to predict, but potentially catastrophic for many regions with a high dependency on fuel and goods passing through the Straits of Hormuz. South-east Asia is one such region, and Oceania, which gets its fuel from south-east Asia is another.
Australia and New Zealand both have little fuel in storage, and significant distances to cover. Both countries have seen major housing bubbles, exponential increases in property taxes (rates), and a substantial rise in the overall cost of living. Many families are already living paycheck to paycheck, if they’re lucky enough to have a paycheck. Some are already living in the cars. A fuel crisis is the last thing the country needed, but one was predictable ever since the closure of New Zealand’s last refinery. Australia too has greatly limited its refinery capacity. Both countries now have a structural dependency on fuel imports, with New Zealand 100% dependent. Tankers are supposedly on their way, but they will go to the highest bidder, meaning they’re likely to head to where there are deeper pockets. Rationing is an inevitability, and price concerns may well give way to a lack of availability at any price.
South Korea – New Zealand’s primary supplier – just instituted mandatory fuel rationing. They will not be exporting to New Zealand. Tankers headed this way may well accept higher offers from other locations.
