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EU gas consumption to fall sharply: Report
Demand for gas in the European Union is expected to decline by more than the bloc’s total imports from Russia this year, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing an internal European Commission document.
The majority of the cuts were made by the EU’s most industrialized countries, said a report by RT.
Gas consumption will reportedly see a decrease of 60 billion cubic meters in 2023 compared to the average for the last five years.
The figure represents “more than the gas volumes we still foresee to import from Russia in 2023, both pipeline and [liquefied natural gas],” reads the document seen by the FT.
The figure is also 8 billion cubic meters more than EU nations saved during the height of the energy crisis in 2022.
The substantial drop in demand was not simply down to “good luck,” EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson reportedly stated at a meeting on Wednesday.
Instead, she claimed it had resulted from a series of emergency laws adopted last year in a bid to decrease the bloc’s reliance on supplies from Russia.
At the same time, energy experts have cited the mild winter of 2022 as helping EU members to consume less energy, while high prices resulted in energy-intensive industries scaling back production.
