Odd Lots · Friday, October 2, 2026
Qatar Airways engaged in "fuel tankering" by lifting cheaper jet fuel from Dubai and transporting it back to Doha, bypassing their own national oil company, Qatar Petroleum, which was overcharging them. This strategy involved flying aircraft with minimal fuel to Dubai and refilling there to secure better pricing.
“So, yes, I mean, you know, with Qatar Petroleum, right? Okay, just... It's not the most pleasant of experiences dealing with QP because they had a subsidiary named Wokod, W-O-K-Q-O-D, Wokod. And they used to sell us jet fuel at 3.65 a gallon. And when we fly to Dubai and lift jet from Dubai, Chevron's selling it at 295 a gallon. So we were getting screwed 70% by our own national petroleum company.”
“So, you know, when we took delivery of the 787s, the Dreamliners, we told the world that we were using them for training by going to Dubai and back, right, to train the crew. But actually we were going there. Literally we flew there on fumes, probably like, you know, we had like, Five tons or less, maybe four, three or four. We're flying there on fumes and literally we cannot circle Dubai airport once. We have to land straight away. And when we land, we can lift a hundred tons of fuel.”
“You were tankering fuel from Dubai.”