EU’s natural gas consumption falls 17.7%

The consumption of natural gas in the European Union came in 17.7% lower from August through March than the average gas consumption in the same period of the year between 2017 and 2022, according to data published by Eurostat.

The level is above the 15% goal that the EU determined when it rolled out the measures for natural gas demand reduction, as part of the REPowerEU plan to end dependence on Russian fossil fuels. The target was adopted for the period from August through March, against the average for the same eight months of the previous five years.

Data show that the majority of EU countries reached the 15% target while the reduction in Ireland (0.2%), Slovakia (1%), Spain (10.8%), Poland (12.5%), Slovenia (13.8%) and Belgium (14.5%) was smaller. Malta, the smallest consumer among all EU member states that use gas, actually saw a 12.7% increase.

Asa for the countries tracked by Balkan Green Energy News, only Slovenia didn’t achieve the planned cut. Romania lowered its consumption by 20%, while Croatia, Greece and Bulgaria exceeded even the 20% mark, the report reads.

Consumption fell the most in Finland (55.7%), Lithuania (40.5%) and Sweden (37.2%).

Looking at monthly data from January 2022 to March 2023, consumption has been consistently below the 2017-2022 average of the respective months of those years, Eurostat said.