How Oil and Gas Are Fueling Global Conflicts, Essay Example

The Dilemma

The current situation in Ukraine started in 2013, when the Ukrainian leader rejected an agreement with the European Union (EU) for greater economic and political relations, favoring instead closer relationships with Russia. That sparked fierce anti-government uprisings in Kyiv, leading to Yanukovych’s expulsion from the capital (Ramsbotham et al., 2016). With Russia’s major ally out of the picture and pro-EU militaries in control of the city, Russian Putin proceeded to take Crimea and foster a separatist movement in eastern Ukraine. The dilemma, in this case, is that the resultant war is all about political legality and nationality for both sides and energy, as in other recent skirmishes. Russia was at a crossroads on whether to take action on Ukraine or not. This is a perfect example of the topic of “How Oil And Gas Are Fueling Global Conflicts.”

Energy-Related Conflict

After the revolts began, a sequence of actions led to the existing stalemate, with Moscow controlling Crimea, Russian rebels controlling massive swaths of the east, and the remaining western areas edging closer to the EU. Nonetheless, energy is a significant part of the scenario (Klare, 2014). For example, Gazprom has hiked the amounts it receives from Ukraine from gas imports in some instances, and in June, it shut off Ukraine’s supply, appealing for payment for previous supplies. In addition, an explosion a day later destroyed one of the gas pipelines supplying Russian gas to Ukraine, an incident that is currently under investigation. This means that it is certain that the link between this conflict and the environment is direct.

Environment and Conflict

Russia’s ambition to capture Crimea by military methods was aided by energy. Russia effectively doubled its offshore holdings in the Black Sea by conquering that region, which contains enormous amounts of oil barrels and massive gas reserves (Klare, 2014). Several Western oil companies, especially ExxonMobil, were bargaining with Ukraine to access those deposits before the conflict. This clearly shows that there is a connection between natural resources and conflicts.

Conflict Resolvers

The refusal of the Kremlin to acknowledge Ukraine as an independent state poses a tremendous problem for conflict resolution experts and has resulted in a significant strategy loss for Russia (Klare, 2014). Conflict resolvers, such as the US, have the mandate to execute sanctions on Russia. President Biden had cautioned Russia that he would impose economic sanctions if they took any more military steps.

References

Ramsbotham, O., Woodhouse, T., & Miall, H. (2016). Contemporary Conflict Resolution. John Wiley & Sons.

Michael Klare (2014), “Twenty-First Century Energy Wars: How Oil And Gas Are Fuelling Global Conflicts,” Energy Post