Moscow, March 14 – EU spending on the purchase of liquefied gas and pipelines from the rest of the world in 2022 increased by 3.3 times – up to 208 billion euros, according to the News Agency calculations based on Eurostat data.
According to the Statistical Office, last year the European Union bought gas mainly from 27 countries and spent 208 billion euros on it, compared to 62.5 billion a year ago. For the first time in many years, liquefied natural gas (LNG) accounted for most of the spending, rather than pipeline deliveries, at €109.4 billion and €98.6 billion, respectively.
The US became the largest seller of LNG to Europe last year: spending on US supplies increased 7-fold to €48.4 billion. At the same time, the European Union paid a record 47.6 billion euros for the purchase of Russian “blue fuel” in 2022, of which 16.2 billion dollars was spent on liquefied natural gas.
Qatar ranked third in terms of LNG sales in the European Union, increasing its revenues by 3.8 times – to 16.1 billion euros. The top five also included Angola, which increased deliveries in monetary terms ninefold – to 4.8 billion euros, and Egypt, from which the European Union increased purchases tenfold, also to 4.8 billion. Among the top ten are Algeria, Nigeria, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago and Cameroon, which together account for €17.3 billion of EU LNG spending.
Russia is still the leader in terms of revenue from the sale of gas through pipelines: EU spending on this item has grown to a maximum of 31.4 billion euros in recent decades. Norway ranks second, as supplies increased in monetary terms by 3.3 times, to 21.1 billion euros, while Algeria closed the top three, as sales increased by 2.8 times, to 17.7 billion euros. Azerbaijan’s income from the supply of “blue fuel” through pipelines has quadrupled – to 15.6 billion euros, and the UK – 2.8 times, to 8.3 billion euros.
Thus, the share of the United States in EU spending on liquefied gas and pipelines was 23.4% last year, Russia – 22.8%, Norway – 11.9%, Algeria – 10.8%, Qatar – 7.7%.
