Promise fulfilled. Objective achieved. When the war in Ukraine broke out a year ago, the European Union had to redefine energy policy in order to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels imported from Russia, especially gas.
According to what was decided in Brussels as part of the Repower EU plan, one of the ways was to reduce gas consumption by 15%. You can already say that the Europeans have tightened their belts and succeeded.
According to data released yesterday by Eurostat, gas consumption in the EU between August and March fell by 17.7%, that is to say, two tenths above what was expected, compared to the average consumption of these months between 2017 and 2022. The saving had to be voluntary, as an effort in a context of war in European territory. The mild winter temperatures helped the behavior change. The effort of northern Europe is particularly noteworthy. The largest reductions were recorded in Finland (-55.7%), Lithuania (-40.5%) and Sweden (-37.2%). Among the Twenty-seven, only Malta increased gas consumption in this period (12.7%), while they did not reach 15% Slovakia (-1%), Spain (-10.8%) , Poland (-12.5%), Slovenia (-13.8%) and Belgium (-14.5%).
In March, EU countries agreed to extend this voluntary savings target of 15% by one year – between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024 – which includes an emergency clause that , if enabled, would make this goal mandatory.
Not only have the Europeans learned to consume less gas, but also have their warehouses still very full in case they need it: cutting gas ties with Russia is closer than ever. Indeed, at the beginning of this month, European gas reserves were at 55.7% of their capacity. This is the highest level for an April start in the last 12 years, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.
Compared to the average of the last five years, Europe has almost 20 percentage points more gas in storage. If the trend continues, Europe will be able to have gas storages 90% full before autumn begins.
After the war in Ukraine, the gas consumed in Europe is now imported from different countries. Before the conflict, the European Union imported about 40% from Russia. Now, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), the percentage has dropped and we are close to 13%. The USA, Norway and Algeria already represent two thirds of purchases abroad. Unlike oil or diesel, gas from Russia is not subject to sanctions.
The European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, said that, “if the weight of renewables is increased and future energy sources are diversified, the gradual elimination of Russian natural gas will be possible for some member states” .
