Consequences of the Iran war Switzerland has less petroleum in storage than it should have
Due to the ongoing war in Iran, kerosene is becoming scarce in Europe. Switzerland is stockpiling petroleum for such cases. At the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency, the Confederation confirmed that these reserves are currently below the current regulations.
21.04.2026, 17:06
22.04.2026, 08:53
SDA
The requirement for the range of compulsory aviation petroleum stocks is three months or 90 days of the average sales volume of the last three years at Swiss airports (i.e. excluding Basel). A spokesperson for the Federal Office for National Economic Supply (FONES) said on Tuesday in response to an inquiry that the mandatory stocks of aviation kerosene currently have a lower range.
The current range is 72 days "or around two and a half months". The sharp increase in the sale of aviation kerosene since the Covid pandemic means that large quantities of aviation kerosene have to be placed in compulsory storage with a time delay.
How much petroleum needs to be stored is determined on the basis of average consumption. The currently valid average value for the mandatory stockpile quantity to be placed in storage is based on the average consumption for the three years 2022, 2023 and 2024. However, this had increased sharply from 2024 until the outbreak of war.
This means that stocks would have to be built up in addition to the regular supply. This could be delayed due to impending shortages and strong price fluctuations, the spokesperson continued. In addition, market shifts led to delayed adjustments by importers. New importers would normally have three years to fulfill their compulsory stockholding share.
"Tamedia" newspapers had initially reported that stocks should actually be replenished to the extent that Swiss airports could be supplied for three months, or 90 days.
