$100 Diesel Cracks Signal a Much Tighter Oil Market Than Brent Suggests

The oil market has remained complacent for months amid the worst disruption in global supply, with crude oil futures rarely topping $100 per barrel over the six months in which tanker traffic at the Strait of Hormuz is a trickle compared to pre-war levels.

While market participants have been putting too much hope of a resolution of the conflict in their bets on future crude prices, product supply of the fuel of the economies – diesel – has been shrinking.