Just-in-time manufacturing can lead to some interesting problems, but I hear people howling about the 25 days until diesel runs out and I wonder if they think that McDonalds has a year's supply of Big Macs sitting on the shelves too? HYPOTHETICAL because of course they do but you get my point.

I guess it depends who you ask:
"Inventories of diesel and gasoline are down below five-year averages, and if the entire world were to stop, we would have 25 days worth of diesel. But the world doesn't stop. We're not counting on it stopping," Ed Hirs, a professor of energy economics at the University of Houston...  "Now we have 25 days' supply when we would ordinarily have around 35 to 40," he said.
The only way there would be a run on diesel is if buyers panic and start stockpiling, Hirs said, adding, "That could cause an issue."

If not nature herself, who may have brought that one about?

Once again, I'll raise my primary point that the quickest way to peace is with an abundance of oil. For a whole host of reasons. Peace through prosperity. Doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon with Biden once again declaring a fight to the death against the fossil fuel industry.

...Here in the States we were recently informed that we have a 50 day supply of diesel. No diesel ? The country stops. No trucks, no trains, people freeze to death, especially in the Northeast. Then people starve with no food being shipped. And our asswhipe of a POTUS has drained our strategic reserve for a political ploy making things even more unsure...

... only 50 days' supply

.. ks + wilson center

OK, I won't. Not sure what I'd have to say to a headline aggregation site that advertises itself as "Where barflies get together" anyway....

EDIT: more on those negative prices  "Europe's not out of the woods" (yet)

 kurtster wrote:
Well, yes. That's what I was referring to when I said at the back of Putin's cerebellum somewhere.  But I think there is good evidence that oil and gas is not Putin's primary motive. All of the wars on Russia's borders have been about quelling local independence and restoring regimes aligned with Russia. Moreover, the timing of the 2022 invasion closely followed Lukashenko losing the election in Belarus (before getting reinstalled by Russia  - i.e. a refusal to accept an election and getting installed by force - sound familiar?).  I contend that what Putin is most afraid of is domestic unrest and the encroachment of western democracy. In fact, this IMO is the only prism to view the messages coming out of Russian TV which are an exercise in pure absurdity. So, sure, oil may play some role in his reasoning, but power and control is by far more important to him.  This is also the only rationale that makes sense to him accepting all the downside risks attached with an invasion of Ukraine and holding Europe hostage in terms of oil and gas supplies.  Risks that have now become manifest: 1) Europe's gas storage is 100% full.

There's no way Europe is going to ever rely on Russia for its supplies to the same extent ever again. 
He's lost his conventional army and is now hauling out old WWII stock to send to the front.
Nor can he rebuild his army because of sanctions on essential western parts
He's decimating his population of young fathers and is anyway facing a demographic crisis.
It's possible that up to 700,000 people have fled  Russia  As for Ukraine.. it is true, like any country going through a massive transition from one-party rule to democracy there was a problem with corruption (Russia has the same issue) and a diversity of political parties jockeying for position. The invasion has changed all that. Putin has made a unified nation out of Ukraine. Another major fail on Putin's part, but Ukraine's gain. 76% of the nation favour fighting until victory,and this after all the losses and damage that the war has caused. They are not going to back down, regardless of what support they get from the west.
2) btw..  if you feel like reading something to balance out your diet of Tucker Carlson soundbites, you could try reading something like this.

Lighten up Francis, no one is upset, it was just a joke.

OK, I won't. Not sure what I'd have to say to a headline aggregation site that advertises itself as "Where barflies get together" anyway.

As to NoEnz' point: Germany isn't Europe.  Turkey is at the end of it's economic rope and is busy fashioning a noose out of it, and Britain is seeing considerable political turmoil from rising energy costs. Rising fuel prices are a major talking point for the Tucker Carlson right in the US. This problem isn't solved.

Rising fuel prices are a major talking point for the Tucker Carlson right in the US. This problem isn't solved.

Don't tell that to the Moon of Alabama.

Not true for Germany at least.  This links to a German PBS page, but you can scroll down to the chart which needs no explanation. It's from the end of August but I'm pretty sure the situation hasn't changed much. If anything the aversion to Russian sources has got even more extreme since the sabotage of Nordstream 1 and 2.

Lest anyone start popping the corks to celebrate European energy independence this is only possible because the pipelines thru Ukraine are still operating. That tap can turn off at any moment, and importing gas by tanker as driven the cost up to crippling levels.

This is a good summation of Ukraine's gas woes, brought about by the familiar issues of a state-owned utility being simultaneously incompetent and corrupt. Ukraine owes Russia a lot of money for its past gas purchases, something that could form the basis of their reparations claim after the war.

Europe's gas storage is 100% full. There's no way Europe is going to ever rely on Russia for its supplies to the same extent ever again.

 VV wrote: Lighten up Francis, no one is upset, it was just a joke.

This is what I posted in response to your previous post:

I guess you must mean the long and storied history of Russian repression. Nope, I don’t think anyone is discounting that at all. In fact I think everyone recognizes it as a primary contributing factor to the current state of affairs.
  
And you are upset by it and saying I am making sh*t up about you? Tell me where the made up sh*t is in that statement? There is nothing personal in it at all. You must have a guilty conscience my friend.

Was referring to your comment about "Russian repression"  
Perhaps I misunderstood, but that sounded like you were implying I somehow sympathize...

Re. the oil bit, it could be, it could not be.
On the one hand, one might think if it was about oil, why not let Russia take what they want, end this all quickly, and get back to ship oil, wheat,...
On the other, maybe the inside view is that the west is threatened by Putin, and feels he may continue manipulate their vulnerability, reliance on Ukraine/Russian commodities.
Regardless, it's in Europe's backyard, and not some 3rd world southern hemisphere nation , so there is that (sorry to be callous, but that is a reality)