Roma – In the first quarter of 2024, the EU imported energy products worth €95.5 billion, for a total of 183.8 million tonnes. Compared to the same quarter of 2023, imports decreased both in value (-26.4%) and in net mass (-10.4%). This was reported by Eurostat.
The value of imported gaseous natural gas decreased by 56.8% in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same quarter in 2023, while the volume decreased by 11.7%. A similar trend was observed for liquefied gas, with imports showing a sharp decline in value (-54.1%) and a more modest decline in volume (-11.4%). The significant decrease in value reflects the decline in natural gas prices after the price surge in 2022, while the decrease in volume should be seen in the context of the EU reduction plan, to which EU countries have committed to reduce gas consumption by at least 15%.
Both the value and volume of imported petroleum oils remained stable compared to the first quarter of 2023 (0.4% increase in value and 0.9% decrease in volume).
Similar trends can be observed when considering the monthly averages of the first quarter of 2024 compared to the monthly averages of previous years. The average monthly value of imported petroleum oils in the first quarter of 2024 was 1.8% lower than the monthly average in 2023, while the volume decreased by 1.2%. On the contrary, strong decreases were recorded for liquefied natural gas, with a drop of 35.9% in value and a reduction of 14.5% in volume, and for natural gas in the gaseous state, with a drop of 41%. 3% in value and a decrease of 9.8% in volume.
Norway and the United States: Major Energy Suppliers
In the first quarter of 2024, the majority of EU petroleum imports came from the United States (17.1%), Norway (13.6%) and Kazakhstan (10.9%).
Almost half of the gaseous natural gas came from Norway (46.6%). Algeria follows with 19.7%, ahead of Russia with 17.3%.
The United States supplied nearly half of imported liquefied natural gas (47.4%), ahead of Russia (17.7%) and Algeria (9.9%).
