European Union imported 57.5% of the energy it consumed in 2020, down by almost three percentage points compared to 2019, and Romania is one of the least dependent countries on energy imports, according to data published on Wednesday by Eurostat.

The rate of dependence on energy imports varies between over 90% in Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg and up to 10.52% in Estonia and 28.20% in Romania. However, while in Estonia the rate of dependence on energy imports doubled in one year, from 4.83% in 2019 to 10.52% in 2020, in Romania it decreased by three percentage points compared to 2019.

Eurostat states that at EU level the reduction in dependence on energy imports is the result of a 12.6% decline in energy imports as well as a reduction in primary energy production, changes that have been linked to limited demand in the context of restrictions imposed by the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, according to Agerpres.

The most important sources of fuel in the EU’s energy mix in 2020 are oil and petroleum products (34.5% of the total) and natural gas (23.7% of the total). The rate of import dependence on crude oil was the highest of all fuel types and fell only slightly from 96.8% in 2019 to 96.2% in 2020. Natural gas, an imported fuel for the production of crude oil electricity and heating in the EU have the second highest dependency rate on imports, of 83.6% in 2020, down six percentage points from 2019.