EU Energy Imports Decline

Data from the European statistics agency "Eurostat" revealed today, Monday, that "EU energy imports continued their downward trend in the second quarter as member states reduced their dependence on Russian supplies." Following a strong increase between 2021 and 2022, imports for the bloc decreased by 39.4 percent in value and 11.3 percent in volume in the second quarter of 2023 year-on-year. This came after a decline of 26.5 percent in value and 6.1 percent in volume in the first quarter. Eurostat's data indicated that Russia, the largest supplier of petroleum oils to the EU with a market share of 15.9 percent in the second quarter of 2022, saw this share drop to only 2.7 percent in the second quarter of this year, making it the twelfth largest supplier. The agency's data added that Norway, Kazakhstan, the United States, and Saudi Arabia experienced an increase in their market shares during the same period. The bloc has banned imports of Russian seaborne crude oil since December 2022 and Russian oil products since February 2023 in an effort to eliminate Russian oil products and sanction it for its invasion of Ukraine. Eurostat stated: "EU natural gas imports have significantly decreased (by 17 percent in volume) in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. This decline may have occurred as a result of the bloc's plan to reduce consumption, with EU countries committing to lower gas use." The agency noted that "Russia's share of natural gas in gaseous form fell by 14.5 percentage points year-on-year to 13.8 percent of the bloc's total imports in the second quarter, while Algeria's share increased to 9.3 percent and Norway's to 6.2 percent, making Norway the largest supplier to the EU."