European Union energy imports fell for the second consecutive quarter compared to the previous year, a reversal of the trend of significant increases in energy imports between 2021 and 2022, the Commission said on Monday European
In the second quarter of 2023, compared to the same quarter of 2022, EU imports decreased by 39.4% in value and by 11.3% in net mass. These results followed falls of 26.5 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, in the first quarter of this year, the commission said in a press release citing Eurostat data.
In terms of net mass, Russia’s share of EU oil and natural gas imports has been falling continuously since the second quarter of 2022. Eurostat data shows that oil imports from Russia fell from ‘a monthly average of 8.7 million metric tons in the second quarter of 2022. 2022 to 1.6 million metric tons in the second quarter of this year (-82 percent). In contrast, imports from non-EU partners excluding Russia increased by 5.8 million metric tons, from 31.5 million to 37.3 million metric tons.
Russia’s share of total EU oil imports was 4.0 percent in the second quarter of 2023, down from 21.6 percent in the same quarter last year, the Commission said European
EU natural gas imports fell significantly (-17 percent in terms of net mass) in the second quarter of 2023, compared to the same quarter in 2022, the commission said.
Russia’s natural gas imports fell from a monthly average of 5.1 million metric tons in the second quarter of 2022 to 2.5 million metric tons in the second quarter of 2023, it said.
Decoupling from Russia
The European Commission noted that the war between Russia and Ukraine led the EU to implement several sanctions packages, which directly and indirectly affected oil and natural gas trade. An obvious sign of the impact is the growing diversification of energy supplies, the commission said.
On the oil side, the EU ban on seaborne imports of Russian crude came into force on 5 December 2022, followed by the embargo on refined petroleum products on 5 February 2023, which affected results of the first and second quarter of 2023.
According to Eurostat data, Russia was the main supplier of oil in the second quarter of 2022, with a share of 15.9 percent of total EU imports. In the second quarter of 2023, Russia ranked only 12th, with a share of 2.7 percent, down 13.2 percentage points (pp) from 2022.
Conversely, Norway (+3.5 pp to 13.7%), Kazakhstan (+3.2 pp to 10.2%), the United States (+2.1 pp to 13.6%) and Arabia Saudi (+2.3 pp to 9.0%) increased their share. during the same period, and Libya became a major partner, accounting for 8.1 percent of EU oil imports, according to the commission.
The situation was similar for natural gas in gaseous state, with Russia’s share falling by 14.5 pp to 13.8 percent of total EU imports, while Algeria’s shares (+9 .3 pp) and Norway (+6.2 pp) increased significantly. In the second quarter of 2023, Norway was the top supplier to the EU with a share of 44.3% of total EU imports, followed by the United Kingdom (17.8%) and Algeria (16.5%) .
The United States remained the EU’s top LNG supplier in the second quarter of 2023, with a 46.4% share of total EU imports, followed by Russia (12.4%), Qatar (10 .9%), Algeria (9.9%) and Nigeria (5.1%). percent), the commission said. Among these suppliers, only Algeria and Nigeria saw their share increase (+5.2 pp and +1.0 pp respectively) compared to Q2 2022.
In contrast, the respective shares of the United States, Russia and Qatar fell by -2.8 pp, -2.7 pp and -1.1 pp respectively. Norway and Oman became major suppliers, with shares of 3.3% and 2.9% respectively, the commission said.
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