Title: Energy production and imports - Statistics Explained
Headings: Energy production and imports
Energy production and imports
Production of primary energy by fuel type, EU-27, 2008-2018
Full article
Production of primary energy decreased between 2008 and 2018
The EU and its Member States are all net importers of energy
More than half of EU energy needs are covered by imports
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Data sources
Context

Content: During the period shown in Table 3, Norway remained the second largest supplier of EU imports of natural gas, its share slowly falling from 22.0 % in 2008 to 18.1 % in 2018. The share of EU natural gas supplies that originated from Algeria, the third largest supplier, declined between 2008 and 2018, whereas the share from Qatar almost doubled. The security of the EU’s primary energy supplies may be threatened if a high proportion of imports are concentrated among relatively few partners. Almost three quarters (70.3 %) of the EU’s imports of natural gas in 2018 came from Russia, Norway and Algeria. A similar analysis shows that close to three quarters (74.3 %) of EU hard coal imports originated from Russia, the United States and Colombia, while imports of crude oil were less concentrated among the principal suppliers, as Russia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia accounted for roughly the half (45.9 %) of the EU’s imports. More than half of EU energy needs are covered by imports
EU dependency on energy imports didn’t change much over the last decade, from 58.4 % of gross available energy in 2008 to 58.2 % in 2018 (see Figure 3). During the presented period, the EU’s net imports of energy have been greater than its primary production; in other words, more than half of the EU’s gross available energy was supplied by net imports and the dependency rate exceeded 50.0 %. Between 2008 and 2018, some few variations were noticed on the energy dependency rate: a maximum of 58.4 % was registered in 2008, while 53.9 % was the lowest dependency registered in 2013.