the share of Russian supplies in the EU oil and gas market continues to fall

The share of Russian supplies in the total volume of oil imports of EU countries continues to fall, according to Eurostat data. In the second quarter, in annual terms, the share of the Russian Federation was 2.7% (versus 15.9% a year earlier, minus 13.2 percentage points, p.p.). In the first quarter of this year it was 3.2% (versus 26% in January-March 2022).

The rapid decline in export volumes from the Russian Federation, we recall, began after the imposition of an embargo on maritime supplies of oil from December 5, 2022 and on petroleum products from February 5, 2023. In the second quarter, the average monthly volume of Russian oil imports from EU countries was 1.6 million tons (8.7 million tons for the same period in 2022).

At the same time, the volumes of imports of other oil suppliers to Europe in the second quarter increased almost comparablely – to 37.3 million tons from 31.5 million tons in April-June 2022. In the total volume of EU oil imports in the second quarter, the shares of Norway increased (by 3.5 percentage points year-on-year, to 13.7%), Kazakhstan (by 3.2 percentage points, to 10.2%), USA (by 2.1 p.p., to 13.6%) and Saudi Arabia (by 2.3 p.p., to 9%). These countries replaced the lost Russian supplies in virtually equal amounts.

In general, the volume of imports of oil and petroleum products from EU countries in the second quarter of this year decreased by 3%. This slight reduction in supplies, according to senior analyst at BCS World of Investments Ronald Smith, can be explained by the dynamics of storage filling.

According to Eurostat, Russia’s share in pipeline gas imports continued to decline. In the second quarter, it decreased by 14.5 percentage points to 13.8% of total EU imports. The largest suppliers in April-June were Norway (share – 44.3%), Great Britain (17.8%) and Algeria (16.5%).

At the same time, the Russian Federation still ranks second after the United States in exports of liquefied natural gas to the European Union. The US share in the second quarter was 46.4% (minus 2.8 percentage points year-on-year), Russia – 12.4% (minus 2.7 percentage points). In general, gas imports by EU countries fell more noticeably year-on-year in the second quarter than oil – by 17%. This, Ronald Smith believes, is due to the high level of gas reserves that Europe managed to achieve thanks to a warm winter and the desire to reduce consumption of this type of fuel.

Kristina Borovikova, Tatyana Edovina