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MOSCOW, March 18 Every tenth cubic meter of gas used by the European Union in 2023 came from the United States, with Lithuania most dependent on it , and Finland got hooked the fastest — two years ago the country did not consume American gas at all, according to data from the UN platform Comtrade and the International Energy Agency.
According to the IEA, last year gas consumption in the European Union amounted to 330 billion cubic meters, which is 20% less than the figure for 2021. 34.5 billion cubic meters of gas came from the United States, or 10.4% of all gas consumed in the EU. Lithuania depended most heavily on American gas at the end of last year — almost 40% of the blue fuel it consumed was from the United States, while in 2021 the share was 22.3%. In Finland, which did not buy American gas back in 2021, 38.2% of consumption was already accounted for by it.
In Croatia, “dependence” is progressing more slowly: over two years it increased by only 1.8 percentage points — to 32%, and In the Netherlands, the share of American gas jumped almost fourfold — to 27.3%, in France — threefold, to 24.3%.
Five more countries increased purchases, including Spain — by 2.5 percentage points, to 15.9%, and Poland — by 3.7 percentage points, to nine percent. The share of American gas in Belgium's consumption increased almost 12 times — to 8.8%, and in Italy — five times, to 4.8%. Germany, which did not consume blue fuel from the United States in 2021, now purchases about five percent of its consumption from the country.
At the end of 2023, Portugal became one of the few countries in the EU that reduced the share of American gas in consumption — to 18 from 27% two years earlier. Greece also did this — by 1.6 percentage points, to 12.1%, and Malta — by 2.6 times, to 4.8%.
At the end of January, the White House announced a pause in issuing permits for LNG exports , explaining the decision by the fight for the environment. According to the head of the analytical department of the BKF bank, Maxim Osadchy, this decision is related to the upcoming presidential elections and is explained by the Democrats’ attempt to win over voters.
«The climate effect is questionable, since a reduction in LNG supplies could lead to an increase in demand for coal, which, when burned, produces the same amount of energy emits twice as much carbon dioxide as LNG. However, this decision contributes to the growth of mistrust in the market and could intensify the transition to green energy,” the expert answered the question of how US policy will affect Europe.
At the same time Marcel Salikhov, director of the Center for Economic Expertise at the Institute of State and Municipal Management of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, notes that in the long term, if the United States stops issuing permits for new projects, this will reduce the availability of LNG for the European market.