EU reviews its energy efforts: savings and new LNG terminals weaken Russian gas dominance

The European Union has substantially reduced its natural gas consumption and diversified its sources. As a result, the share of gas imports from Russia fell to 18 %, down from approximately 45 % previously, according to the State of the Energy Union report published in September. As many as 12 new terminals for importing liquefied natural gas also helped.

In 2024, the European Union took significant steps towards achieving its energy and climate targets. One of the key pillars is a 55 % emissions reduction by 2030 under the Fit for 55 programme. This ambitious plan is complemented by the REPowerEU initiative, which aims to achieve energy independence and reduce reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

In the period following the energy crisis, the European Union primarily sought to reduce its dependence on gas and oil imports from Russia. While Russian gas accounted for 45 % of European imports in 2021, this share had fallen to 18 % by 2024. This decline was driven by supplier diversification, particularly towards Norway and the United States. A general reduction in energy consumption due to high energy prices during the energy crisis also helped, a crisis from which the EU as a whole has not yet fully recovered.

In figures, between August 2022 and May 2024, the European Union saved 138 billion cubic metres of natural gas. This was achieved primarily through measures to reduce consumption and improve energy efficiency. By comparison, 6.76 bcm of natural gas was consumed across the Czech Republic last year. Therefore, savings during the period were roughly twenty times Czech annual gas consumption.

"In the final quarter of last year [Q4 2023], gas consumption was the lowest of the entire decade. Annual consumption then fell to its lowest level in more than three decades. Above all thanks to customer-side energy-saving measures, gas consumption has been declining continuously since the third quarter of 2021, when the energy crisis began to take effect," Stanislav Trávníček, chairman of the Czech Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ) Council, said previously regarding last year's statistics.

Energy security and increased LNG terminal import capacity

The European Union also praises its success in meeting its gas storage filling obligation in the report. Storage facilities were filled to the required 90 % well in advance in both the previous and current years. This year, European gas storage facilities reached the target as early as mid-August, several months ahead of the November deadline.

In addition, 12 new terminals for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) were commissioned between 2022 and 2024, increasing EU import capacity by 70 billion cubic metres per year. Overall, the European Union will have import capacity of approximately 284 bcm of natural gas in 2024. At full utilisation, import infrastructure therefore falls only slightly short of total EU gas consumption, which stood at 295 bcm last year.