Baku, Azerbaijan, July 1
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
EU gas consumption in the first quarter of 2019 decreased by 4 percent in year-on-year comparison, showing a decline in the fourth consecutive quarter since Q2 2018, Trend reports with reference to the European Commission.
“In absolute level, the quarterly gas consumption in Q1 2019 amounted to 163.1 billion cubic meters (bcm), down from 169.1 bcm in Q1 2018. Although gas-fired electricity generation showed a measurable increased in Q1 2019 in year-on-year comparison, the weather across Europe was generally milder than usual in the first quarter of 2019, resulting in lower heating needs and gas consumption,” reads the quarterly report on European gas markets, published on the European Commission’s website.
Reportedly, in the first quarter of 2019 gas consumption was only higher in January compared to the same month of 2018, while in February and March it was measurably lower. “Compared to the range of the last five years however, gas consumption in Q1 2019 in the EU followed the usual pattern.”
The European Commission said that in the first quarter of 2019, the biggest year-on-year increase in gas consumption could be observed in Greece (24 percent, representing a volume of 1.6 bcm in Q1 2019).
“Gas consumption increased in only two of the six largest consumers in the EU: in Germany (by 4 percent), and Spain (1 percent), while it decreased in the UK (13 percent), the Netherlands (8 percent), France (5 percent) and Italy (2 percent),” reads the report.
The report shows that the biggest year-on-year decrease occurred in Denmark (19 percent), Latvia (16 percent) and Estonia (15 percent).
“In the remaining 17 countries the year-on-year rate of decrease in gas consumption varied between 0.2 percent and 8.4 percent in Q1 2019. In absolute numbers, gas consumption in Q1 2019 decreased by the most in the UK (3.7 bcm), the Netherlands (1.2 bcm), France (0.9 bcm), Italy (0.4 bcm) and Austria (0.3 bcm), if we compare to the first quarter of 2018. On the other hand, gas consumption increased in year-on-year comparison in Germany (1.2 bcm) and Greece (0.3 bcm). In the other Member States the change in gas consumption remained below 0.2 bcm over this period,” said the European Commission.
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