Baku, Azerbaijan, July 2
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Net imports of gas by the European Union (EU) in the first quarter of 2019 increased by 15 percent compared to the same period of 2018, the Eurostat data shows.
“This measurable increase of 15 percent in the net gas imports was the highest quarterly growth since Q3 2017. In most of the EU countries net imports increased in Q1 2019 compared to the same period of the previous year (in the biggest EU gas consumer Germany it rose by 38 percent), however, among the bigger gas consumers it decreased in the United Kingdom (15 percent) and in France,” Trend reports citing the European Commission.
In the first quarter of 2019 the total net EU gas imports reached 100 bcm, up from only 87 bcm in the same period of 2018 it was, reads the report.
“The four biggest importers in the EU in Q1 2019 were Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and France, respectively with net imports of 27 bcm, 18 bcm, 15 bcm and 11 bcm, representing together around two thirds of the total EU net gas imports in this quarter,” said the Commission.
According to ENTSO-G data, imports amounted to 1 149 TWh in the first quarter of 2019, which was 7 percent more than in Q1 2018.
“While imports from Russia and Libya increased in Q1 2019 in year-on-year comparison, imports from Norway decreased slightly and that from Algeria fell measurably. At the same time, LNG imports showed a huge increase, more than doubling since Q1 2018 and reaching 251 TWh in Q1 2019,” said the report.
Russia remained the top pipeline gas supplier of the EU, covering 40 percent of total extra-EU gas imports in the first quarter of 2019, which was 1 percentage point less than in the same period of 2018 and the lowest quarterly share since the first quarter of 2016, said the Commission.
However, in Q1 2019 gas imports from Russia increased by 5 percent in year-on-year comparison, reads the report.
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