Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.4
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The five biggest importers in the EU in the second quarter of 2019 were Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, respectively with net imports of 24 billion cubic meters (bcm), 20 bcm, 13 bcm, 9 bcm and 8 bcm, representing together around two thirds of the total EU net gas imports in the second quarter of 2019, Trend reports citing the European Commission.
In parallel with increasing EU gas consumption, Eurostat data show that net imports in the second quarter of 2019 increased by 21 percent compared to the same period of 2018.
This measurable increase is the highest quarterly growth since Q1 2016. In most of the EU countries net imports increased in Q2 2019 compared to the same period of the previous year (in the biggest EU gas consumer Germany it rose by 14 percent), showing only decrease in Denmark, however, by a marginal extent in volume (0.1 bcm).
In the second quarter of 2019 the total net EU gas imports reached 108 bcm, up from only 90 bcm in the same period of 2018. The five biggest importers in the EU in Q2 2019 were Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, respectively with net imports of 24 bcm, 20 bcm, 13 bcm, 9 bcm and 8 bcm, representing together around two thirds of the total EU net gas imports in this quarter.
In the first half of 2019 the total net EU gas imports in the EU amounted to 210 bcm, which was 19 percent more than in the first half of 2018, amid increasing consumption (+4.5 percent) and decreasing domestic production (-7.6 percent), pointing to further increase of gas import dependency in the EU.
Russia remained the top pipeline gas supplier of the EU, covering almost 45 percent of total extra-EU gas imports in the second quarter of 2019, which was 1 percentage point less than in the same period of 2018. However, in Q2 2019 gas imports from Russia increased by 18 percent in year-on-year comparison.
Imports from Norway, the EU's second largest gas supplier, decreased by 2 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2019, and the country's share in extra-EU gas imports also fell to as low as 25 percent (from 31 percent in Q2 2018 12), which was the lowest in the last five and half years.
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