Similarly to the previous periods, in the Q1 of 2021 Russia was the top gas supplier of the EU

Brussels, July 9 - Neftegaz.RU. The EU gas market report notes, although GDP in the EU was still down by 1.2% in Q1 2021 in year-on-year comparison, signalling that the EU economy could still not recover and reach the pre-pandemic level, EU gas consumption was up by 7.6% (10 bcm) compared to Q1 2020, after the slight increase (2.4%) in the Q4 of 2020 and the stagnation in Q3 2020.

• up by 3.4% in Q1 2021
• the widespread practice of teleworking might also have contributed to the overall increase in gas consumption in the residential sector

Gas consumption in Q1 2021 was 141.8 bcm, up from 131.7 bcm in Q1 2020.

EU net gas imports fell by 3% year-on-year (by 2.5 bcm) in Q1 2021:

• Russian pipeline supplies covered 45% of extra-EU net gas imports
• Norwegian pipeline gas was the 2^nd most important source (23%)
• LNG imports together covered 20% of the total EU imports

Pipeline imports from Algeria more than doubled year-on-year, and covered 12% of the total extra-EU gas imports in Q1 2021, as oil-indexed price contracts became competitive vis-à-vis increasing gas hub prices.
The share of Libya was slightly more than 1% and the recently inaugurated TAP ensured 1.2% of the total extra-EU gas imports.

• Nord Stream remained the most important supply route of Russian pipeline gas to the EU, having a share of 41% in the Russian pipeline imports (15 bcm of gas transit)
• The Belarus transit came to the 2^nd place, with a share of 29% with 10 bcm gas transit

The United States were the largest LNG source for the EU, ensuring 4.2 bcm imports, followed by Russia (3.7 bcm) and Qatar (3.1 bcm).