Over the past two years, Europe has rapidly distanced itself from Russia’s energy commodities in protest to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The European Union’s embargo on the import of crude oil from Russia came into force in December 2022, followed by an embargo on oil products including petrol and diesel in February 2023. Meanwhile, natural gas imports fell more than 70% to 43 billion cubic meters bcm in 2023 from 150 bcm in 2021.
Thankfully, the continent has been wildly successful at replacing Russian gas, managing to emerge from last winter with gas inventories at record levels. Europe’s search for new markets has been aided by record natural gas production in the U.S. as well as reduced heating demand thanks to two consecutive mild winters. Norway and the U.S. have replaced Russia as Europe’s biggest gas supplier Last year, Norway supplied 87.8 bcm billion cubic meters of gas to Europe, good for 30.