Moscow, 2 April - Neftegaz.RU. Gazprom Export announced that the total consumption of natural gas in the countries of the European Union in 2017 amounted to 491 bcm, which is 6% more than in 2016.
This is the highest level of demand for the «blue fuel» since 2010, the Market Observatory for Energy of the European Commission (EC) states in its Quarterly Energy Report on European Gas Markets for Q4 2017, published on March 26.
The volume of EU gas imports in 2017 amounted to about 360 bcm, exceeding the value of 2016 by 10%. As noted in the EC report, all major gas suppliers - Russia, Norway and Algeria - registered a year-on-year growth, while Russia retained the largest market share, having increased the pipeline supply by 12%.
The EU’s own gas production in 2017 amounted to 128 bcm, which is 3% less than in the previous year. In particular, in 2017 the Netherlands became a net importer of gas for the 1st time in history. The annual gas consumption in this country exceeded the volume of its own production.
