New figures show sharp drop in Russian energy products imports into EU
Russia’s share in the extra-EU imports of coal, natural gas and petroleum oils has been decreasing continuously since the second quarter of 2022, European Union statistics agency Eurostat said on July 4.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU implemented several packages of sanctions, which directly and indirectly affected the trade of oils and natural gas and are now visible in a major diversion of suppliers of energy products, Eurostat said.
In terms of petroleum oil, the EU ban on seaborne imports of Russian crude oil entered into force on December 5 2022, followed by the embargo on refined oil products as of February 5 2023.
The impact of these measures was visible in the first quarter of 2023, Eurostat said.
If in the first quarter of 2022, Russia was the largest provider of petroleum oils with a share of 26 per cent, in the first quarter of 2023, the share of Russia was only equal to 3.2 per cent, a decrease of 22.8 percentage points (pp), compared with the first quarter of 2022.
In contrast, Norway (+3.8 pp), Saudi Arabia (+3.4 pp) and the United States (+2.7 pp) saw their shares increase the most in the same period.
The situation was similar for natural gas in gaseous state, with EU countries turning to other sources of supply.
In the first quarter of 2022, Russia was the largest supplier to the EU with a share of 38.8 per cent, followed by Norway (38.1 per cent), but in the first quarter of 2023, Russia’s share dropped by 21.4 pp, while the shares of Norway (+8 pp), Algeria (+7.4 pp) and the United Kingdom (+4 pp) increased.
As for liquefied natural gas, Russia (18.1 per cent) was the EU’s second-largest supplier, behind the United States (48.6 per cent), in the first quarter of 2022. Fast-forward to the first quarter of 2023, the share of Russia dropped by 4.9 pp.
At the same time, the shares of Norway (+6.5 pp), Qatar, and Algeria (both +2.4 pp) all increased while the share of the United States dropped by 8.4 pp, Eurostat said.
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