Chevron CEO: Aviation industry issues will 'probably get worse' amid Iran war

Mike Wirth, the CEO of Chevron, predicted Sunday that the aviation industry will continue to suffer from jet fuel shortages arising from Iranian restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. “Inventories of jet fuel in certain parts of the world were at seasonally, relatively low levels before the conflict began. The Middle East refiners are significant exporters of jet fuel, particularly to Europe, where 75 percent of Europe’s imported jet fuel tends to come from those refineries. It’s not flowing today,” Wirth told host Margaret Brennan on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.” The price of jet fuel has risen in response to the conflict, as the Iranian military has restricted shipping in the strait — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil flows. Jet fuel is primarily derived from crude oil, the price of which has increased considerably since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February. The U.S. Navy has also enforced a blockade of the waterway since April 13. Last week, the global average price of jet fuel fell 6.7 percent relative to the week prior, according to the International Air Travel Association . The price of jet fuel in the U.S., meanwhile, has surged from $2.50 per gallon the day before the U.S. and Israel launched the war to $4.19 per gallon on Friday, according to the Argus U.S. Jet Fuel Index published by Airlines for America. …