The EU exceeded the plan to reduce gas consumption – Kommersant

Gas consumption in the countries of the European Union (EU) for the period from August 2022 to March 2023 decreased by 17.7% compared to the same period in 2017-2022, Eurostat reported. Last summer, the Council of the EU set a target to cut consumption between 1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023 by 15%. This was explained, among other things, by the intention to avoid depletion of capacities by the end of winter and the desire to cope with a possible cold snap (see Kommersant of July 27).

Thus, the plan set by the EU has been overfulfilled. The largest decrease in gas consumption occurred in the second half of last year: in August it decreased by 14% compared to the same period in 2021, in September – by 14.3%, in October – by 24.4%, in November – by 25% , in December – by 12.3%. 2023 also began with a decrease in consumption (see chart): in January – by 19%, in February – by 14.7%. Finally, in March, the EU countries consumed the equivalent of 1318 petajoules of gas, which is 17.1% lower than the average for the same periods in 2017-2022.

Some EU countries overfulfilled the set plan and reduced consumption by more than 20%. Finland (55.7%), Lithuania (40.5%) and Sweden (37.2%) had the strongest declines. Ireland did not cope with the “task”, reducing gas consumption by 0.2%, Slovakia (1%), Spain (10.8%), Poland (12.5%), Slovenia (13.8%), Belgium (14 ,5%). In Malta, the figure increased by 12.7% (while it remains the country with the lowest level of gas consumption in the EU).

According to the IEA, the refusal of Russian gas in 2022 due to increased market prices cost Europe about $270 billion. At the same time, only 55 billion out of 80 billion cubic meters were replaced with liquefied gas. m of dropped Russian volumes. The rest was replaced by a reduction in consumption (see Kommersant of April 14). The warm winter helped to reduce it in many ways: according to Eurostat, in the last quarter of 2022, the number of heating degree days (when the average daily temperature deviates from the baseline by a certain amount) was 14% less than for the same period in 2021 (see . “Kommersant” dated March 31). The successful completion of the winter heating season is also evidenced by the data of Gas Infrastructure Europe, according to which, by the end of March, underground gas storage facilities in the EU were filled by 55% against the five-year average of 35%.

Christina Borovikova