Czech energy import dependence rises by nearly a third to just under 40% in 10 years

The Czech Republic's total energy import dependence rose from 30.2 % to 39.5 % between 2014 and 2024. Changes in the diversification of sources related to the war in Ukraine led to a decline in energy import dependence on Russia from the pre-war level of 23.9 % to 11.3 % in 2024. This follows from statistics published by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Although the Czech Republic's overall energy import dependence rose by almost a third over 10 years and reached nearly 40 % in 2024, the country ranked among European Union countries with low energy dependence. Only Denmark, Finland, Romania, Latvia, Sweden and Estonia recorded lower energy import dependence in 2024. By contrast, Malta, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Ireland, Greece and Belgium were among the countries with the highest energy import dependence.

The Czech Republic's low level of energy import dependence is due to its relatively high primary production of solid fossil fuels. The indicator is also favourably affected by the fact that nuclear heat, which accounted for 19.3 % of the total energy mix in 2024, is counted as a domestic source under the definition of energy import dependence.

The statistics further show that the Czech Republic is almost entirely dependent on imports of natural gas and crude oil. Import dependence in 2024 stood at 84.2 % for natural gas and 99.0 % for crude oil.

Declining dependence on Russia

Looking at the Czech Republic's energy import dependence by country, it is clear that despite a significant decline resulting from the diversification of sources associated with the war in Ukraine, the Czech Republic remains most dependent on Russia, at 11.3 %. Norway follows at 9.0 % and Germany at 7.9 %. Slovakia is the country with the highest energy import dependence on the Czech Republic, at 2.7 %.

Total energy import dependence expresses the ratio of total net imports (the difference between total imports and total exports) to the total amount of energy.

Although total energy consumption in the Czech Republic declined from 1 759 PJ to 1 583 PJ over the period from 2014 to 2024, total energy import dependence increased, mainly as a result of a decline in primary energy production (use of domestic sources) from 1 235 PJ to 901 PJ.