US and Norway are main energy suppliers

In the third quarter of 2023, the European Union recorded a significant decrease in imports of energy products, both in value (-49.1%) and net mass (-11.3%), compared to the same period of 2022. The data show that imports of energy products accounted for 17.7% of total EU imports in Q3 2023, and this share has fluctuated significantly in recent years, largely influenced by the volatility of energy product prices.

Eurostat data shows that the share of oil in total EU imports increased from 9.1% in 2021 to 11.0% in 2022, remaining at 10.6% in the first three quarters of 2023. Significant fluctuations were seen for natural gas, with an increase from 5.1% in 2021 to 10.8% in 2022, followed by a decrease to 6.5% in the first three quarters of 2023.

Comparing Q3 2022 with Q3 2023, oil imports remained stable, while natural gas imports saw a significant decrease from 13.1% to 5.2%.

Norway and the United States - main energy suppliers

In Q3 2023, the majority of EU oil imports came from the United States (17.7%), followed by Norway (13.7%) and Kazakhstan (8.2%).

Nearly half of gas imports came from Norway (48.6%), Algeria was second with 17.8%, followed by russia (16.0%) and the UK (10.5%).

The United States supplied almost half of liquefied natural gas imports (48.5%), ahead of Qatar (14.0%), Algeria (10.1%) and russia (8.8%).

Decline in russia's share of energy imports

russia's share of total EU energy imports has fallen significantly since the war of aggression against Ukraine. In Q3 2022, russia accounted for 14.5% of all EU imports of energy products, and in Q3 2023, it fell to 6.5%.