Rising gasoline prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine are causing concern around the world and aggravating the inflation problem plaguing many global economies.

But there is another petroleum-based fuel that has become even more expensive - it hit an all-time high in June - and is causing even bigger headaches than gasoline.

This is diesel, also known as gas oil or gas oil.

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What worries experts the most is that the spike in prices for this distillate is due to the fact that there is a global shortage of diesel, a phenomenon which they believe will be difficult to reverse in the short term.

You may think this doesn't apply to you because you don't have a car, or you have one but it runs on gasoline.

However, even if you have never used diesel in your life, this crisis will have an impact on your wallet, wherever you are.

Why ?

Because diesel is the fuel used by most freight vehicles, from the trucks that carry our food, medicine, and even the gasoline we fill up at gas stations, to the ships that transport goods around the world entire.

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This is also what many buses and trains use.

And it is the fuel that industries depend on to power their machinery and farmers to run their tractors so they can plant and harvest crops.

As a result, the shortage of diesel is creating serious problems around the world, which threaten to spread if demand continues to outstrip supply.

World crisis

Fuel shortages are causing mobility problems in places as scattered as Sri Lanka, Yemen and several African countries.

Rising diesel prices are also leading to protests from indigenous and peasant communities in Ecuador.

Europe is another region where the crisis is causing enormous concern.

Unlike in many other parts of the world, many passenger car drivers in Europe use diesel because it is a more efficient and less polluting source of energy than petrol.

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Before Russia attacked Ukraine, Europe imported about two-thirds of the crude oil it refined to produce diesel from the latter.

But following economic sanctions imposed on Moscow by the West, Europe has relied on the United States for much of its diesel.

While this helped to avoid shortages, the impact on the wallet was significant, with record prices on both sides of the Atlantic.

While Britons today pay more than £100 (76,413 FCFA) to fill up their car - the value of a liter being around US$2.30 (1,437 FCFA) - American truckers pay 1, US$50 (937 FCFA) per litre, the highest price ever recorded in the United States.