Fuel supplies under pressure: why Switzerland is tapping its compulsory reserves

Switzerland’s fuel supplies are under strain, but the federal government does not currently foresee an acute shortage. After low jet fuel stocks at Zurich Airport became known on 15 October, attention turned to the country’s compulsory reserves. Roland Pfister, the delegate for national economic supply, has authorised withdrawals from those stocks. His central message is that the difficulty lies in getting fuel into Switzerland, not in its underlying availability.

For households, businesses and travellers, that distinction matters. Disrupted transport routes can leave Swiss stocks depleted even when petroleum products remain available on the market. Compulsory reserves are designed to bridge those gaps. Releasing them is a way to stabilise supplies, rather than a sign that petrol stations, heating systems or aircraft are about to run out of fuel.

Two key supply routes are disrupted

The supply situation has been strained since March. Particularly troublesome are the Rhine’s low water levels following the intense summer heat, which mean less fuel is reaching Switzerland by river. Railway construction works are also hampering freight deliveries. Two important routes for replenishing stocks are therefore operating under constraints at the same time.

At least two of the three main logistics routes need to function for supplies to remain reasonably stable, Pfister explains. At present, however, only the third route remains unrestricted: the pipeline serving the Cressier refinery in the canton of Neuchâtel. When the other two cannot deliver enough, a bottleneck can develop on the remaining route too. Its ability to compensate is not unlimited.

The consequences have become visible in lower stocks, including at Zurich Airport, where compulsory jet fuel reserves have been tapped. Pfister says there was never an immediate danger of flights having to be cancelled because of a fuel shortage. The reserves helped prevent the situation from reaching that point.

How these routes work together remains crucial. Rail can carry some of the volumes that would otherwise arrive via the Rhine, as Pfister notes happened this summer. But when railway capacity is restricted as well, that balancing act becomes harder. Supply security depends not simply on whether petroleum products are available, but on how reliably they can reach Switzerland.

What the compulsory reserves actually cover

The required coverage differs by product. For heating oil and motor fuels, compulsory stocks are intended to meet four and a half months of demand. For jet fuel, the requirement is three months. Those periods assume that no further supplies arrive.

They should not, however, be read as a countdown to empty storage tanks. Oil and fuel continue to enter Switzerland. With imports still flowing, reserves can help bridge delivery shortfalls for considerably longer. Pfister explicitly does not expect imports to stop altogether.

Nor do the coverage requirements amount to a current inventory of every individual storage facility. They describe the demand that compulsory stocks are meant to cover in principle. Within the operating supply system, those reserves supplement deliveries that continue to arrive. What matters is the size of the gap between incoming supplies and consumption, and how long it persists.

This is the purpose of Switzerland’s compulsory stockholding system: to provide a buffer when normal supply chains come under pressure. Reserves cannot raise the Rhine’s water level or remove railway delays. They can, however, provide breathing space so that transport disruption does not immediately translate into interrupted supplies for consumers.

Yellow alert, not consumption restrictions

The federal government assesses the situation using four warning levels. Diesel and similar products are currently at yellow, indicating a moderate danger. A deterioration would be reflected in the higher orange and red levels. The present assessment therefore warrants attention, but remains below those more serious categories.

If the situation became critical, the government could initially appeal for people to save fuel. Consumption restrictions would be a possible further measure. Pfister stresses that neither step is currently planned. There are no warning signs at present pointing to a genuinely critical deterioration.

It remains possible, however, that other petroleum products could face supply bottlenecks and that further compulsory reserves would need to be released. Such a decision would first and foremost address a particular supply gap. It would not automatically mean that widespread restrictions were imminent.

For residents and businesses, the distinction is important: drawing on reserves is itself a preventive response to delivery problems, not the same thing as imposing limits on consumption. The government’s current position remains that the transport difficulties require attention, but do not yet signal a critical shortage.

Greater security does not mean lower prices

Anyone filling up with diesel or ordering heating oil should not expect the reserve release to bring direct price relief. Compulsory stocks exist to secure supplies, not to make fuel cheaper. Products withdrawn from them are sold at market prices. Pfister currently sees no indication that diesel or heating oil prices will fall soon.

The next steps will depend on how deliveries develop along the Rhine, by rail and through the pipeline. The federal government must monitor whether continuing imports, together with the released reserves, are sufficient to meet demand. The situation remains strained. For now, however, the task is to bridge transport bottlenecks, rather than manage an imminent nationwide fuel shortage.