Eurostat reports drop in imports of energy products to the EU

In the second quarter of 2024, the EU imported €94.9 billion worth of energy products, amounting to a total of 177.9 million tonnes. Compared with the same quarter of 2023, imports decreased both in value (-10.7%) and in net mass (-9.7%).

A slight increase was reported in the value of imported petroleum oils (+5.6% compared with the second quarter of 2023), while the volume of imports recorded a small decline (-2.2%).

The value of imported natural gas in gaseous state decreased by 31.4% in the second quarter of 2024, compared with the same quarter of 2023, while the volume dropped by 9.5%. A similar trend was observed for liquefied gas, with imports showing a sharp decrease in value (-41.2%) and volume (-20.2%).

^{Source dataset: Comext and Eurostat estimates}

Similar trends can be observed when considering the monthly averages for the second quarter of 2024 compared with the monthly averages from previous years. Imports of petroleum products recorded modest fluctuation. The monthly average value of imported petroleum oils was 1.6% lower than the monthly average in 2023, while the volume decreased by 3.6%. In contrast, large decreases were recorded for liquefied natural gas, with a 42.8% decline in value and a 15.3% reduction in volume, and for natural gas in gaseous state, with a 37.0% drop in value and a 4.8% decrease in volume.

Norway and the United States – key energy suppliers

In the second quarter of 2024, most of the EU imports of petroleum oils came from the United States (15.1%), Norway (14.1%) and Kazakhstan (11.7%). The majority of the natural gas in gaseous state came from Norway (43.5%). Algeria followed with 21.6%, ahead of Russia with 15.5%. The United States provided almost half of the imported liquefied natural gas (46.0%), ahead of Russia (16.8%) and Qatar (11.9%).

^{Source dataset:  Comext and Eurostat estimates}