Cyprus is “in a less favourable position” than other countries inside the European Union regarding the security of its oil supply, Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades said on Monday.

He did stress that the island is “not experiencing a fuel shortage today”, but acknowledged during comments made on the sidelines of a meeting of the European transport federation’s executive committee in Nicosia that “we are in a position where we need to be aware of what is happening”.

To this end, he said that Cyprus also requires to “have good coordination” with other EU member states and with the European Commission, “so that if things develop into something more unfavourable, we can take our measures”.

“There is preparatory work at a strategic level, a recording of all the data we have to hand in Cyprus. Cyprus is in a less favourable position compared to central Europe,” he said, before pointing out the island’s “lack of connection” with central European countries in the field of energy.

“We are an island state. We depend on aviation and shipping. That is why we must manage it with this in mind,” he said.

He then added that “how the situation in the Middle East will develop is unpredictable”, saying that “this has created some problems in the fuel supply chain”.

Nonetheless, he said, “we are dutifully monitoring the situation, precisely so that we can take appropriate measures in a timely manner, if we can”.

This, he said, was the reason behind the informal meeting of European transport ministers which he chaired last week.

“We have discussed the issue, and we have come up with some ideas,” he said.

Before that meeting, he accepted that there is the “possibility” of fuel shortages impacting Cyprus and Europe.

“We have before us the possibility, and I stress the word possibility, of a shortage in transport fuel. This evolving geopolitical crisis in the Middle East has highlighted that Europe may have a short-term issue in supply of fuel,” he said.

He also stressed the need to “be aware” of a “demand issue” in terms of fuel consumption which “needs to be neutralised” in the medium and longe term, in effect calling for fuel consumption rates across Europe to be better managed.

Later that day, he was asked about reports of potential jet fuel shortages, and stressed that despite the possibility of there being fuel shortages in the future, “we are not in any dangerous situation”.

Earlier, European Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas had said on the possibility of fuel shortages that reports that Europe may be on the brink of running out of jet fuel are “not an accurate reflection of the situation”.