Archive:EU energy mix and import dependency
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Data extracted on 4 March 2022
Planned article update: none
Highlights
The EU energy mix in 2020 consisted of 34.5% of oil and petroleum products, 23.7% of natural gas, 17.4% of renewables, 12.7% of nuclear energy and 10.5% of solid fossil fuels.
In 2020, the EU imported 57.5% of the energy it consumed as its own production and stock changes satisfied only 42.5% of its needs.
In 2020, the European Union imported 57.5% of the energy it consumed as its own production and stock changes satisfied only 42.5% of its needs. Russia is the leading supplier of natural gas, oil and coal to the EU. This article presents the EU’s energy mix and dependency on the imports for the energy needs in 2020.
Full article
Energy mix and import dependency
The EU energy mix in 2020 consisted of 34.5% of oil and petroleum products, 23.7% of natural gas, 17.4% of renewables, 12.7% of nuclear energy and 10.5% of solid fossil fuels.
The energy mix has been changing over the last decades, with oil products decreasing, natural gas following the same tendency, but on a lesser scale, renewables continuing their long-term upward trend, nuclear and coal scaling down. These trends are at least partly the results of efforts to decarbonise the energy system.
In 2020, the EU imported 57.5% of the energy it consumed as its own production and stock changes satisfied only 42.5% of its needs.
The EU import dependency[1] increased over time due to trends in production and consumption and to the shifts in the energy mix. From the lowest value in 1990 (50.0%), it registered a peak in 2008 (58.4%) and a record high in 2019 (60.5%) before dropping in 2020 (57.5%) (see Tool 1).
- Tool 1: Energy imports dependency, EU, 1990-2020
(% of the total energy needs)
Source: Eurostat</noprint>
- Tool 1: Energy imports dependency, EU, 1990-2020
Since 2013, all 27 Member States of the EU have been net importers of energy. In 2020, Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg were almost entirely import dependent, with rates between 92.5% and 97.6%. The lowest energy dependency rates in 2020 were recorded by Estonia (10.5%), Romania (28.2%), and Sweden (33.5%).
EU energy dependency on Russia
The EU depends on Russia for 24.4% of all its energy needs. The energy dependency on a specific country depends on the weight of the fuels in the energy mix and the dependency on imports of those fuels from a specific origin.
The main origins of EU energy imports have changed in recent years, yet Russia has maintained its position as the leading supplier to the EU of all the main primary energy commodities: natural gas, crude oil and hard coal.
The countries’ different energy mix and import dependencies create vastly different country-specific energy dependencies on Russia. In 2020, the country with the largest share of energy needs satisfied by Russian imports in the EU was Lithuania (96.1%), followed by Slovakia (57.3%) and Hungary (54.2%). The least dependent was Cyprus (1.7%), followed by Ireland (3.2%) and Luxembourg (4.3%).
For a deeper look into the three main fuels with the highest dependency on Russian imports, please see the following sections.
Natural gas
Natural gas, a major fuel for electricity production and heating in the EU, represented 23.7% of the EU’s gross available energy and had an import dependency rate of 83.6% in 2020 with imports of 400.6 billion cubic meters (bcm).
The reliance of the European Union on Russian natural gas has increased over the last decade reaching 41.1% of gross available energy derived from natural gas in 2020, making it the fuel with the highest exposure to imports from Russia.
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Natural gas consumption in the EU remained broadly flat over the last ten years, reaching 399.6 bcm in 2020, but EU production fell to almost a third to 55.7 bcm and the gap has been filled by increased imports. The EU received from Russia 46.1% of its natural gas imports. Other important providers are Norway, Algeria, Qatar, the USA, the United Kingdom, Nigeria and Libya making up collectively with Russia 90% of EU’s total natural gas imports.
EU Member States’ reliance on natural gas imported from Russia differs widely. While some countries did not report any imports of Russian gas in 2020, others cover all of their natural gas needs from this single source.
Oil
Despite the decrease in consumption from the peak of two decades ago, crude oil and petroleum products still hold the largest share in the EU energy mix (34.5%).
In 2020, EU production of crude oil, an essential commodity for the production of transport fuels and the petrochemical industry, reached the lowest point at 18.7 million tonnes (Mt) while the import dependency increased to 96.20%.
That same year EU refineries produced 504.8 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) of petroleum products, the lowest quantity ever produced at the EU level since 1990.
In 2020, the final consumption of oil and petroleum products for energy and non-energy purposes in the EU Member States was 384.0 Mtoe, the lowest level ever recorded in the 31-year time series.
The import dependency for the entire family of crude oil and petroleum products fluctuated in the last decades and reached a record high in 2020 when the EU relied on net imports for 96.96 % of its energy needs.
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Russia is the world’s third largest oil producer after the United States of America and Saudi Arabia and is the world’s largest exporter.
In 2020, the EU relied on Russia for 25.7% of its crude oil imports (total 440.3 MT). (Commodity balance data)
The other main suppliers to the EU are Norway (8.7%), Kazakhstan (8.5%), USA (8.1%) and Saudi Arabia (7.9%). The origins of the crude oil imported to the EU have changed over the years. Imports from Russia continued declining since their last peak in 2005 but remain the highest.
Given the large share of oil in the EU energy mix, imports from Russia satisfied 36.5% of EU energy needs. This reliance on Russian oil has been fluctuating yet decreasing over the last five years from 42.3% to the current share of the gross available energy making it the fuel family with the second highest exposure.
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Coal
Solid fossil fuels have been on a decreasing trend in the European Union for the past 30 years, and this decline accelerated from 2018 onwards. In 2020, solid fossil fuels accounted for 10.5% of the EU energy mix.
Compared to oil and natural gas, solid fossil fuels have a slightly lower total import dependency rate of 34.8%, with Russia covering 19.3% of the EU use of solid fossil fuels. However, this number accounts for all types of solid fossil fuels, including lignite (for which EU production and consumption is high, and trade is negligible) and coke oven coke (for which the EU is a net exporter).
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The most import-dependent type of solid fossil fuel is hard coal, an aggregate of anthracite and bituminous coal. Many EU countries stopped their production of hard coal in recent years, and the consumption of hard coal decreased more slowly than its production. Consequently, the import dependency rate of hard coal increased, and it reached 57.4% in 2020.
From 2010 to 2020, EU imports from Russia mostly increased until 2018 when they started to decrease sharply. In 2020, a year when the EU imported 87.7 Mt of hard coal, 52.7% was imported from Russia, which accounted for 30.3% of the EU’s hard coal consumption. During the last decade, other non-EU hard coal suppliers have seen their imports stay stable or decrease. In 2020, 17.5% of the EU’s hard coal imports were from the United States, and 15.8% from Australia.
Glossary, concepts and methodology notes
Coal = Anthracite + Coking coal + Other bituminous coal + Sub-bituminous coal + Lignite + Coke oven coke + Patent fuel + Brown coal briquettes + Coal tar + Peat + Peat products + Oil shale and oil sands
Oil = Crude oil + Natural gas liquids + Refinery feedstocks + Additives and oxygenates (excluding biofuel portion) + Other hydrocarbons + Refinery gas + Ethane + Liquefied petroleum gases + Naphtha + Aviation gasoline + Motor gasoline (excluding biofuel portion) + Gasoline-type jet fuel + Kerosene-type jet fuel (excluding biofuel portion) + Other kerosene + Gas oil and diesel oil (excluding biofuel portion) + Fuel oil + White spirit and special boiling point industrial spirits + Lubricants + Paraffin waxes + Petroleum coke + Bitumen + Other oil products n.e.c.
Renewables = Hydro + Geothermal + Wind + Solar thermal + Solar photovoltaic + Tide, wave, ocean + Ambient heat (heat pumps) + Primary solid biofuels + Charcoal + Pure biogasoline + Blended biogasoline + Pure biodiesels + Blended biodiesels + Pure bio jet kerosene + Blended bio jet kerosene + Other liquid biofuels + Biogases + Renewable municipal waste
Total = Natural gas + Oil + Coal + Nuclear + Renewables + Industrial waste (non-renewable) + Non-renewable municipal waste + Electricity + Heat
Gross available energy = Primary production + Recovered and recycled products + Imports + Exports + Change in stock
Domestic production = Primary production + Recovered and recycled products
Imports from Russia is calculated based on import data for individual fuels and the individual shares are subsequently aggregated in common energy units (TJ).
Other trade = Imports - Exports - Imports from Russia
Gross available energy = Domestic production + Imports from Russia + Other trade + Change in stock
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
In energy statistics, the following conventions apply:
- production of electricity and heat in nuclear installations is cosidered as domestic production, regardless the actual origin of uranium/plutonium
- production of biofuels from imported biomass feedstock is considered domestic production of biofuels, regardless the actual origin of biomass feedstock
- international trade (imports/exports) is considered based on physical border crossing regardless of customs procedures
- countries should report ultimate origin of fuels for imports (country where the fuel was extracted) and in egeneral reporting should exclude transit
- use of fossil fuels is including also non-energy consumption, such as use of natural gas in chemical industry, bitumen in construction or lubricants for lubrification
- EU aggregate is calculated as sum of individual countries and there for trade it includes intra-EU trade
Specific notes for reporting trade (imports/exports) in energy statistics:
- some countries report transit as imports and exports
- some quantities are considered confidential (e.g. reporting of Austria for natural gas trade)
- purchases on international spot markets (trade hubs) are sometimes allocated to the country of purchase, instead of country of origin
- some countries cannot identify exact origin and therefore report such quantities under the transit country (e.g. Germany) or under "non specified" category
Context
The dependency of the EU on single providers has long been a topic of concern and a large component of energy security which tops the EU agenda. The EU has sought to improve energy security by building a resilient, interconnected and open internal market, while pursuing a multilateral and rule-based perspective. The current geopolitical events are highlighting the vital importance of controlling and decreasing import dependency. Today’s picture still shows a heavily dependent position of the EU towards Russia.
On March 8, 2022, the European Commission announced its REPowerEU initiative, a plan for Europe to rely less on imported fossil fuels.
Direct access to
See also
Main tables
- Gross available energy by product (ten00121)
Database
- Energy statistics - quantities, annual data (nrg_quant)
- Energy balances (nrg_bal)
- Complete energy balances (nrg_bal_c)
- Energy indicators (nrg_ind)
- Energy imports dependency (nrg_ind_id)
- Trade by partner country (nrg_t)
- Imports (nrg_ti)
- Imports of solid fossil fuels by partner country (nrg_ti_sff)
- Imports of oil and petroleum products by partner country (nrg_ti_oil)
- Imports of natural gas by partner country (nrg_ti_gas)
- Imports of biofuels by partner country (nrg_ti_bio)
- Imports of electricity and derived heat by partner country (nrg_ti_eh)
- Imports (nrg_ti)
- Energy balances (nrg_bal)
- International trade in goods - aggregated data (ext_go_agg)
- International trade in goods - long-term indicators (ext_go_lti)
- International trade in goods - short-term indicators (ext_go_sti)
- International trade in goods - detailed data (detail)
Dedicated section
Methodology
Legislation
Visualisations
External links
Notes
- ↑ The import dependency is the ratio of net imports (imports minus exports) to gross available energy. Gross available energy is the overall supply of energy for all activities on the territory of the country. This also includes energy transformation, losses and use of fossil fuel products for non-energy purposes.