Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions will contribute to high oil and natural gas prices in the coming months, which will undermine major oil-consuming countries’ economic recoveries from COVID-19 and exacerbate high inflation levels that hit the poorer segments of society the hardest. Global energy prices skyrocketed just hours after news broke of Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. European light sweet benchmark Brent crude futures initially surged as much as 9%, reaching $105 per barrel for the first time since 2014, before falling back below $100 per barrel later in the day. Western European natural gas benchmark Dutch TTF futures, meanwhile, increased as much as 60%. The European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States are all expected to announce significant sanctions against Russia over the next few days. But the sanctions package U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled on Feb. 24 is not designed to directly...
