Diesel Crisis: European Prices Soar to Nearly Double Brent

Oil price expert Jeff Currie says that Brent crude oil prices at $91 are misleading. According to him, the real crisis is in diesel, which has soared to nearly double Brent's current price.

The European diesel market was trading around $170 per barrel during an interview with CNBC, while WTI crude oil was at $84.94 on Tuesday.

This disconnect between crude and refined-product prices has been building for months, Currie said. In late June and early July, supplies surged in the Strait of Hormuz, trapping 100-120 million barrels of crude. China's subsequent cuts to refinery runs helped keep crude prices lower but made product supplies tighter.

Currie believes governments have created an 'illusion of abundance' by releasing strategic reserves during supply disruptions, but this strategy has stopped working due to the scale and duration of the current disruption.