The EU's dependence on imported energy grows

Statistics on energy for the EU25 have been published by Eurostat today.

Briefly the EU in 2005 consumed 1, 637 million tonnes of oil equivalent ( TOE see footnote) much the same as 2004.

EU25 production of all sources of energy fell by 4.2% in 2005, and net imports rose by 4.5%. Consequently the EU25 depends on imports for 56% of its energy needs, up from 54% in 2004.

If a longer time frame is considered between 1995 and 2004 energy consumption in the EU25 rose by 11%, production fell by 2%, and net imports rose by 29%.

Energy consumption per capita in the EU25 in 2005 was equivalent to 3.6 TOE in 2005, US = 7.8 TOE/capita and Japan 4.1 TOE/capita.


All EU25 indigenous energy sources types fell in 2005,

1. Crude oil declined 9.0% over 2004
2, Natural gas by 5.8%
3. Coal by 5.7%
4. Nuclear energy by 1.3%.

The UK accounted for 70% of the crude oil produced in the EU25 (a decline of 11% on previous year), followed by Denmark 15% of production which declined by 4%.

The UK was also the EU25's largest gas producer = 44% of production declining by 7.7% over 2004, the next was Holland with 32% of production which declined by 6%.

Poland, was EU25's largest coal producer with 57% of the coal mined and production declined by 2.1%. In Germany (19% of the EU25 total) and the United Kingdom (13%), the 2nd and 3rd largest coal producers, production decreased by 3.9% and 17.9% respectively.

France, which produced 46% of all EU25 electricity from nuclear sources and production increased by 0.9%, the 2nd largest supplier, Germany (16% of market) production (through plant closures) fell by 3.0%.

Oil imports (60% of energy imports) rose 3% in 2005 and gas (25%) 9.2%. (see pic of LNG tanker - soon to be seen in Milford Haven ?)

Member States dependence on imports varies from Cyprus, totally dependent, Portugal 99.4% to Denmark, which produces more energy than it needs, is a net exporter of energy. The UK is currently 13% dependent and is planned to be 80% dependent by 2020.

A tonne of oil equivalent (toe) is a standard unit defined as ....

A TOE, Tonne of oil equivalent , is One tonne of oil with a net calorific value of 41.868 Gigajoules. A convenient although not wholy accurate common measure so one Giga Joule of nuclear power = 0.024 tonnes of oil, and one tonne of high grade coal = the same amount of energy as 0.7 tonnes of oil.

For more on energy security concerns go here