Crude oil headed the EU's increasing energy imports ranking with a 7% increase in 2017 compared to 1990, the bloc's statistical office announced on Monday. The decrease of primary energy production in the EU over the past decades has resulted in an increase in the imports of primary energy and energy products, according to Eurostat.
The office said that crude oil headed the ranking in terms of quantities imported in 2017 totaling 574 million tons of oil equivalent (mtoe). This represented a decrease of almost 7% from 2007 (614 mtoe), yet an increase of 7% from 1990 (536 mtoe).
"Since 1990, natural gas imports have risen steadily. Imports more than doubled from 164 mtoe in 1990 to 392 mtoe in 2017, although they slightly decreased between years 2010 to 2015. Natural gas was the second most imported energy product," Eurostat noted. In third position were imports of gas oil and diesel oil, which also more than doubled from 66 mtoe in 1990 to 137 mtoe in 2017.
The fourth most imported energy product in 2017 was solid fossil fuels at 115 mtoe. "However, the quantity imported decreased slightly compared to 1990 (121 mtoe)," Eurostat said. On the exports side, Eurostat said the quantities of energy products exported from the EU are much lower than imports.
"In 2017, gas oil and diesel oil (113 mtoe) ranked first, followed by natural gas (96 mtoe) and motor gasoline (87 mtoe)," it explained.
(Anadolu Agency)
