April 23, 2026 [The Financial Post]- Europe’s biggest oil refinery is working flat out to produce jet fuel as concern mounts that the Middle East conflict will lead to shortages.

Shell Plc’s Pernis plant is running on “max jet mode,” Frans Everts, head of the company’s Dutch business, told journalists on Wednesday at the site in Rotterdam. “Very clearly every refinery in Europe is on what we call max jet mode.”

Europe is heavily reliant on imports of jet fuel and has lost its main supplier as supply via the Strait of Hormuz has dried up. Dutch carrier KLM has said it will operation fewer flights from Amsterdam’s Schipol airport, which is supplied by the Pernis refinery. Dutch Lufthansa AG said this week it will also scrub flights this summer to save on fuel. Pernis also supplies the UK and Germany, the latter by pipeline.

Shell has also had to look for alternatives to crude grades from the Middle East where some of the world’s biggest oil producers have been forced to cut production due to the closure of Hormuz. The near full closure of the vital energy channel has choked off millions of barrels of supply since the end of February.

“We’re looking at different sources and the market, of course, completely needs to reorient itself,” Everts said. “We have a global presence and therefore our ability to spot opportunities.”

Everts was speaking at an event to mark the construction of the Holland Hydrogen 1 plant that will make what’s known as green hydrogen.

Pernis is Europe’s biggest oil-processing plant, with capacity to process about 400,000 barrels of crude a day. It is linked to a major chemicals site, Moerdijk, where a planned turnaround is under way. Shell is upgrading two turbines that run on natural gas to run on electricity, Everts said.