The European Union’s top oil producers in 2021 were Italy which produced 14.8 Mt followed by Denmark and Romania (each with 3.2 Mt), new data reveals.
However, compared with 2020, production shrunk in all three countries: -10% in Italy, -8% in Denmark, and -4% in Romania, Eurostat reported.
Further change influenced by Russian invasion of Ukraine and following EU policy decisions to reduce energy dependence on Russia will be reflected in the 2022 data.
After reaching a record high of 96.78% in 2020, the import dependency for the entire family of crude oil and petroleum products declined to 91.67% in 2021.
This value is the second lowest since 1990, after the historical minimum of 91.66% in 1999.
The import dependency registered in 2021 was the combined result of changes in net imports (-0.3%), with both imports and exports rising by +3.4% and +9.2%, and gross available energy (5.3%). Primary production also changed (-5.7%), but it has a far lesser influence on the indicator due to its relatively low level.
The drop in dependency was also supported by the use of 20.4 Mtoe of oil stocks which was the largest yearly draw ever recorded and equivalent to 4.1 % of the gross available energy.
Specifically for crude oil, an essential primary commodity for the petrochemical industry and the production of transport fuels, the import dependency decreased for two consecutive years, standing at 95.2% in 2021, below the levels registered since 2015.
In 2021, the production of crude oil in the EU continued to decrease, reaching its lowest point at 17.5 million tons (Mt), 6% less than in 2020.
Between 1990 and 2004, crude oil production fluctuated but was always over 34.5 Mt, peaking in 2004 at 41.7 Mt. Almost 20 years later it decreased by more than half.
