Shit Meets Fan

In other words, Trump and Hegseth have been lying to the American people. pic.twitter.com/9FDgqSD0fn

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 7, 2026

And what happens before four months have elapsed?

"We will start to see physical shortages,” Wirth said, noting that surplus supply in commercial markets, tankers in so-called shadow fleets avoiding sanctions, and national strategic reserves were all being absorbed, according to Reuters.

“Demand needs to move to meet supply,” he said. “Economies are going to have to slow.”

He also put the scale of the disruption in historical context. The overall effect of the Hormuz closure is “potentially as big as in the 1970s,” Wirth said. Two major supply disruptions in that decade led to fuel rationing and long lines at retail pumps across the Western world, Reuters confirmed.

Shit gonna get real:

The distinction he drew is also important. Oil markets often reprice quickly on geopolitical headlines. But physical shortages are a different problem. They are measured in tanker schedules, refinery throughput, and inventory drawdowns, not in futures positions. Wirth is saying the market has moved from the first category into the second.

The buffers that were keeping physical supply flowing are running out. Commercial stockpiles, shadow fleet capacity, and strategic reserves are all being drawn down simultaneously. That is the combination Wirth says will now start showing up in real shortages rather than just elevated prices.

Wirth was specific about the sequence. Asia is the most exposed region because it is most heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil and gas. Japan, for example, sources approximately 95% of its oil imports from the region, according to OilPrice.com.

Mike Wirth is the CEO and Chairman of Chevron. He has more credibility than anyone in the Administration, on this topic.

So, it won’t be asking people to pay $10 a gallon for gas; it’ll be telling them they can’t have any, at any price. I remember the ‘70’s. People were in line because there wasn’t enough gas. 50 years later, here we go again.

And the oil from Venezuela won’t mean squat.