The standard price of fuel has more than doubled since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by oil refineries incorrectly estimating global demand, surging consumption and now active warfare.
Global oil prices have surged to prices not seen since 2014-15 and they surged even higher when news broke of the Russian military attack on February 24,2022.
Russia is the world’s largest exporter of natural gas and the third largest producer of crude oil, 72 per cent of which goes to Europe and 26 per cent to Asia.
Fears over Russia cutting off the fuel supply lines has created an artificial ‘energy crunch’ as Europe scrambles for other options.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has been on the simmer since 2014 when pro-Russian separatists took control of the Donbas region, which is a coal basin and major steel producing area.
The Donbas area has a long history of wanting independence and around 75 per cent of the population speak Russian, not Ukrainian.
Since 2014 the Donbas region has been controlled by pro-Russian separatists (the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics) and the Russian military has been hovering on the borders ever since to passively protect the separatists from large-scale action by Ukraine.
Russia has publicly justified its current military action as a matter of sovereign safety and necessary to protect the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
