Abstract
The global energy landscape has gone through various changes by events such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the COVID-19 pandemic, and internal disputes within OPEC+. Alongside these disruptions, the entry of new players in the energy sector has redefined players in the energy markets. This paper highlights those escalating tensions and shifting trade partners. It describes the situation as the “energy cold war” going hand-in-hand with the actual war in Ukraine. By looking at the interactions between major economic blocs, the paper attempts to explain how energy markets have transformed into arenas of strategic national interests among major global economies. It is organized into four sections: the first section outlines the energy situation over the past decade; sections two and three detail shifts in energy trade and sources and analyse the broader socio-economic repercussions of the ongoing crises. The final section analyses the present infrastructure of energy production and transportation in the world to attempt to predict what is going to happen from a technical perspective.
