In the first eight months of this year, the European Union reduced gas imports by 1.7-fold to €49.2 billion. This comes against a backdrop of the deindustrialization of the region: from March 2022 to August 2024, industrial production in the Union will fall by 21%.
Russia and Algeria are the only countries that managed to significantly increase their share of gas supplies to the EU in 2024, according to Sputnik calculations based on Eurostat data.
All major gas exporters recorded a decline in supply, with Qatar (2.8-fold), the UK (2.5-fold), Nigeria (2-fold), the US (1.8-fold) and Norway (1.7-fold) recording the largest declines. Russia and Algeria experienced the smallest decline in exports—only 22% and 24%, respectively.
This allowed the two countries to significantly increase their presence in EU imports: Russia’s share rose by 4.6 percentage points to 18.3%, and Algeria’s by 4.9 percentage points to 21.3%.
Other suppliers increased their share by less than 1 percentage point. Peru increased its presence on the EU gas market by 0.9 percentage points, Trinidad and Tobago by 0.7 percentage points, Azerbaijan by 0.65 percentage points, and Serbia by 0.55 percentage points.
At the same time, the US remains the largest gas supplier to the EU, accounting for 22% of the total, compared to 22.9% a year ago. In addition to Algeria and Russia, the top five include Norway, whose share rose to 12.5% from 12.3% a year ago, and the UK (8.4% from 12.5% a year ago).
