Are you the kind of prepper that suspects that diesel and gasoline will become unavailable soon after a major social collapse occurs?
If so, then you have to read this article!
You may have made any one of the following decisions that can spell absolute destruction once these fuels are no longer available.
Since diesel and gasoline were only invented in the late 1800’s, it will not be so hard to “go back” to a lifestyle without these fuels. Even though there are isolated groups of people throughout the world that survive without these fuels, they also dedicate their entire lives to basic survival. If you are not accustomed to this lifestyle, a few camping trips and survivor practice drills won’t make you ready to live without these fuels.
Knowing that you will need diesel for farm equipment or transport vehicles, you may have decided to store away as much fuel as possible on your homestead. No matter how carefully you store the fuel, or the additives that you use to keep it fresh, there is no guarantee that the fuel will be viable once you have no other choice.
To make matters even worse, storing large amounts of fuel will make you a target for anyone that wants to take it from you. Why bother to defend something in your stockpile that may not even work for the purpose intended?
Convert all equipment that runs on gasoline to biodiesel, methane, or some other fuel you can make for yourself. This move may sound appealing to many people because it can be practiced now, and it make for efficient use of all sorts of materials. As with storing large amounts of fuel, rest assured that you will become the target of an attack by anyone that discovers you have fuel on hand and know where to get more.
There is no such thing as a perfect way to address how you will survive once gasoline and fuel are no longer available. Each possibility has benefits and disadvantages that you will have to compare with your on specific skills, abilities, strengths and weaknesses. For example, someone that is handicapped or cannot easily live off the land will more than likely need to consider finding ways to make diesel or be able to defend large stores of it.
Now let’s have a look at some ways to overcome both the social and tangible survival problems that will happen when diesel and gasoline are no longer available, or they are so expensive that no one can afford them.
5 Things About a Possible Starting Scenario
Instead of one “major” event such as a solar EMP or a major earthquake disrupting the entire planet, let’s say a bunch of smaller, unrelated events converge steadily to create a social collapse that will happen in year 2025.
In our time frame, the scenario might include:
- Less than 10% of commercial and wild bees remain to pollinate crops (bear in mind that commercial bee hives declined by 42% from April 2014 to April 2015 alone). Food shortages will lead to disruptions in oil, gas, and diesel production and transport.
- Texas and the mid states remain either chronically under water or crops fail because of constant hail storms and other disasters. Food riots combined with the need to adjust or move in other drilling equipment will disrupt oil production and storage in this vital area.
- California and the Western states become so hot and dry it is no longer safe to operate solar panels or drill for oil.
- Russia, India, Japan, and China join currencies and create a situation where the US dollar is no longer the standard for international trade. As a result, the US banks go on “holiday” and the currency is devalued to around 25%. Under these circumstances, the US will not be able to import enough oil for consumer needs.
- North Korea, Iran, and ISIS join forces to control the Middle East. A civil war across the land effectively shuts down almost all fuel exports to the United States.
Let me be very clear in saying that this “perfect storm” of seemingly unrelated events can easily happen in a 2 year time frame. When these events converge, the United States will run out of gasoline and diesel within 160 days (at the best case scenario, that’s about how long the fuel will last in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve).
At that point in time, the currency situation, geographic considerations, and other world events will make it impossible for the United States to buy enough fuel or find ways to continue extracting it from petroleum or plant based sources.
How Will You Know a Fuel Shortage is Coming?
Aside from watching for events similar to those listed above, you can:
- Look at the cost of gasoline and diesel in comparison to the actual production levels.
- Pay careful attention to the availability of food and other common household goods in popular stores. Are milk, eggs, flour, and other staples imported from outside the state running low? Is inventory of first aid and health supplies on the low side? How are the prices changing once new shipments come in? These shortages and price increases may well have to do with actual production problems related to each product, or they may be related to problems with getting enough fuel to ship. Remember how prices on just about everything jumped when gas prices went up just a few years ago?
- It is also always important to look at the FOREX exchanges and see how the US dollar (USD) compares to other currencies.
- I also watch the currency exchange rates and comparisons for key nations/currencies such as Russia (RUB), China (CNY), Hong Kong (HKD), Japan (JPY), India (INR), Saudi Arabia (SAR), Iran (IRR), the Euro (EUR), North Korea (KPW), Venezuela (VEF), Qatar (QAR), Iraq (IQD), Syria (SYP) and Israel (ILS). Even though some of these countries have very little in the way of currency valuation, I still do the comparisons between them and other nations to look for changes. To me, changes in currency among the smaller nations may indicate changes in trade agreements or something else going on that may not be noted in the news.
- Gain a sense and understanding of global crisis patterns. This includes how earthquakes, floods, and other large scale disasters may be increasing in intensity or focusing on areas where it will cause major disruptions that affect prices and availability of crude and petroleum products.
Likely Government Responses to Fuel Shortages
When naive people hear about the Strategic Oil Reserve, they tend to believe that this oil will be made available to the public until it is all gone. Contrary to that belief is the fact that the government has been making disaster plans for years on end.
In these scenarios, the government and military always take priority and always get primary access to the resources. Even though your tax dollars pay for the Strategic Oil Reserve, in the end the government will consider itself a priority over the needs of the people.
Before drilling and access to foreign oil become limited, you can expect the government to do the following:
- They may release some petroleum from the reserves in order to keep prices low and keep the masses from catching on that there is a problem. Nevertheless, there is a point where the release of petroleum to the public will stop even though no new fuel is being obtained.
- Fuel rationing.
- Active seizure of fuel stored by preppers so that it can be redistributed to others that did not prepare for the crisis.
- Attempts to limit the storage of fuel by preppers or find ways to ensure that stored fuel locations are known and under strict surveillance.
