BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 29. The US ranked first among main crude exports to Europe in December 2022, Trend reports, citing Eurostat.
According to the statistics, the US increased its share in European oil imports by 6 percent, compared to the last quarter of 2021, to 18 percent (34 483 thousand barrels).
Meanwhile, by the end of the year, things started to stabilize, with decreasing imports from Russia, lower prices of crude oil, and lower volatility of prices. The EU’s biggest suppliers of crude oil, after the US, were Norway, and Kazakhstan, showing that the EU managed to adapt to the changing oil market landscape and virtually remove its dependence on Russian oil.
"From the last quarter of 2021 to January 2022, imports from Russia ranged from 39 657 thousand barrels to 49 698 thousand barrels, accounting for 24 percent to 31 percent of total imports. The US was the EU’s second-largest supplier of crude oil, providing between 19 115 thousand barrels and 20 751 thousand barrels, representing 10 percent to 13 percent of total crude oil imports," the report added.
At the same time, Norway and Kazakhstan also supplied similar amounts of crude oil, ranging from 8 percent to 14 percent of total imports, while imports from Iraq were slightly lower, ranging between 7 percent to 12 percent. Imports from Libya and the UK accounted for around 5 percent of total imports.