European Commission: EU natural gas import dependency down to 83% in 2021

In 2021, the EU’s natural gas import dependency rate was 83%. This is 1 percentage point (pp) less than 2020 (84%). This small decrease in import dependency was significantly influenced by the fact that most EU Member States used stocks of natural gas that were imported in previous years. In fact, the drop in natural gas stocks in 2021 was the largest since the start of the time series (2008).

The EU Member State with the highest dependency on natural gas imports in 2021 was Malta (104%), followed by Sweden (102%) and Lithuania (101%), which have increased their stocks. On the other hand, the lowest dependency on natural gas imports was recorded in Romania (24%), followed by Denmark (26%) and the Netherlands (33%).

The impact of a potential import disruption needs to take into account the importance of natural gas in the overall energy mix. While the import dependency in Sweden, Finland and Estonia is near 100%, the share of natural gas in the energy mix is relatively low (3%, 7% and 8% respectively). By contrast, the highest share of natural gas in the energy mix is in Italy (40%) and its import dependency is 94%. The Netherlands has the 2nd highest share of natural gas in its energy mix, however its import dependency is much lower, due to its domestic production of natural gas.

When compared with 2020, the largest increases in the dependency rate on natural gas imports were recorded in Malta (from 96% in 2020 to 104% in 2021; +8 pp), Ireland (from 64% to 71%; +7 pp) and Romania (from 17% to 24%; also +7 pp).

At the other end of the scale, the largest decreases were recorded in Latvia (from 121% to 61%; -59 pp), Austria (from 73% to 51%; -22 pp) and Slovakia (from 88% to 69%; -20 pp).