European Parliament: The EU's energy dependence: facts and figures

The EU imports more than half of the energy it consumes and that can make it vulnerable to external energy suppliers such as Russia. To improve the situation, the European Commission presented a plan to reduce this dependence, which was discussed by Parliament’s industry committee this week. Read on to find out the key facts and figures about the EU’s energy imports and how it varies from country to country.

The cost of energy dependence: The EU imports 53% of the energy it consumes, including almost 90% of its crude oil, 66% of its natural gas and 42% of its solid fuels such as coal.In 2013 the bill for external energy amounted to about €400 billion.

Europe is also heavily dependent on one single supplier, namely Russia, responsible for a third of oil imports,39% of gas and 26% of solid fuels. Six EU countries depend on Russia as the supplier for their entire gas imports.
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