Russia-Ukraine Conflicts and its Impact on Global Energy Prices

This paper examined the degree to which the Russian-Ukraine debacle impacted on global energy prices, given that these two countries are major exporters of food and other commodities globally. The Intractable Conflict Theory which provides a framework to understand the persistence, deep-rooted causes, and the difficulty in resolving this type of conflict through conventional diplomacy was employed to explain this study. The Intractable Conflict Theory offers insights into why certain conflicts, like the one between Russia and Ukraine, become prolonged and difficult to resolve. The historical and descriptive research methods were utilised for this study. The design allowed the researcher the opportunity of obtaining data from secondary sources for literature and thematic analysis of the study. The study found amongst others that the prices of all the commodities shot up due to two factors. It was observed that the War triggered the most significant energy price shock since the 1973 oil crisis. The prices of natural gas and crude soared due to global supply interruptions, direct damage to pipelines and international sanctions, and the Russian response to the sanctions. In view of the above, it was recommended amongst others that all political leaders should seek for ways to ensure that peace returns to this region, especially when seen from the implications of this war for energy insecurity on a global scale due to low production and poor supply chain.