Europe remains heavily dependent on energy imports even after the energy crisis, with dependence on Russia being replaced by dependence on other countries, according to an analysis carried out by the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI), based on Eurostat data.

According to the source cited by Agerpres, Romania is the country least dependent on imported gas and the second least dependent on the import of petroleum products.

“Dependence on energy imports in Europe has not undergone significant changes in recent years, Europe remains heavily dependent on energy imports even after the energy crisis. The analysis of Eurostat data demonstrates that the measures taken recently have not significantly changed the energy security level of Europe, replacing dependence on Russia with dependence on other countries. It can be seen that dependence on energy imports from Russia has decreased three times, but it has not been completely eliminated,” states the president of the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI), Dumitru Chisăliță.

As for the dependence on gas imports, it has increased in recent years, even though the dependence on gas imports from Russia has decreased three times.

“Analyzing the dependence on gas imports in the last five years depending on the transport channels, it is found that the quantities of gas imported through pipelines from Russia have decreased sharply, they have decreased four times, but gas imports have increased three times from Russia through the LNG infrastructure and twice the gas imports through the LNG infrastructure from outside Russia. It is also noted that the amount of gas imported from outside Russia through pipelines has increased,” the quoted source also states.

In his opinion, the only reduction in dependence on imports can be observed on the market of petroleum products, where Europe’s dependence on imports decreased by about 8%. This was achieved against the background of the increasing obligation to introduce biofuels in classic fuels, as well as due to hybrid and electric cars. It is also the sector where we have the largest reduction in dependence on an energy product from Russia, practically the dependence on Russia decreasing six times.

Last but not least, the dependence on important coal in the EU increased in 2021 and 2022, with the restart of some coal-fired power plants as a result of the gas crisis and later returned to the level of 2019. The smallest decrease in dependence on imports from Russia is at the coal level, decreasing by only 6%.

“Analyzing the dependence of different countries on energy imports, we see that the island countries are at the top of the energy dependent countries, and at the opposite pole are Romania (the 4th least dependent country in the EU), before Sweden, Estonia and Iceland “Romania is the country least dependent on imported gas and the second least dependent on the import of petroleum products,” the AEI president said.