EU Energy Use Waning, Imports Rise

Energy consumption in the European Union in 2015 was below its 1990 level, said the EU's statistical agency Eurostat February 20.

EU dependency on imports of fossil fuel imports however is rising. Netherlands gas use in 2015 meanwhile fell below its 1990 level.

Gross inland EU energy consumption was 1,626mn metric tons of oil equivalent (mn mt oe), 2.5% less than in 1990 and 11.6% less than the peak of almost 1,840mn mt oe in 2006.

However fossil fuel continued to represent by far the largest source of energy, at nearly three-quarters of EU energy consumption in 2015, although down from 83% in 1990 to 73% in 2015. However, over this period, EU dependency on imports of fossils fuels has increased, with 73% of fossil fuels imported in 2015 compared with only 53% in 1990. The full data can be seen here.

Germany was the largest energy consumer in the EU in 2015 at 314mn mt oe (or 19% of the total), ahead of France (253mn, or 16%), the UK (191mn, 12%), Italy (156mn, 10%), Spain (121mn, 7%) and Poland (95mn, 6%). Compared with 1990, the largest decreases in energy consumption in 2015 were  in the three EU Baltic states (Lithuania -57%, Latvia -45% and Estonia -37%) as well as in Romania -44% and Bulgaria -33%, whereas Cyprus increased its use by 41%, Ireland by 38% and Spain by 35%.

Graphic credit: Eurostat

Data in Eurostat's press release did not split out gas from other fossil fuels. However a sub-set of data showed that German gas consumption rose from 55.4mn mt oe in 1990 to 77.8mn mt oe in 2005 before easing to 65.2mn mt oe in 2015.

EU-28 gas consumption followed a similar trend: 298mn mt oe in 1990, rising to 445.2mn in 2005 before easing to 357.9mn in 2015. 

By contrast in the Netherlands, gas use in 2015 at 29.2mn mt oe was below both 2005 and 1990 levels of respectively 35.3mn and 30.7mn mt oe.

In 2015, the EU state least dependent on fossil fuel imports was Denmark 4%, followed by Estonia 17%, Romania 25% and Poland 32%. Denmark and Romania benefited from indigenous oil and gas, Estonia from oil shale used in power plants, and Poland from coal which also dominates its power mix.

Mark Smedley