According to a report by ECO, in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic year, the European Union (EU) imported 58% of the energy consumed, since that produced in the community block met only 42% of the needs. According to Eurostat, Portugal is more dependent on external energy than average: in that year, it imported 65% of the energy consumed, namely natural gas and oil. Only 5% of these imports came from Russia.

Of all the energy available in the EU, the largest share (34.5%) was related to oil and derivatives, 23.7% to natural gas, 17.4% to renewable energy, 12.7% to nuclear energy and 10, 2% to solid fossil fuels (eg coal). But 58% of these components were produced outside the EU in 2020.

And the majority (24.4%) of the energy imported into the EU block came from Russia, Eurostat data shows. Natural gas, important for the production of electricity and heating, was the component with the greatest exposure to Russian imports. In 2020, the EU imported 46% of the natural gas used that year from Russia, satisfying 41.1% of the available raw energy.

Oil, essential for transport and the petrochemical industry, represents the component with the second largest exposure to Russian imports. In 2020, the EU relied on the Russians for 26% of crude oil imports, thus satisfying 37% of energy needs.

Finally, solid fossil fuels had the lowest dependence on imports from Russia, which provided 19% of the total. In the particular case of coal, the EU imported 53% of this material from Russia, which represented 30% of EU consumption.

Analysing the energy consumed in Portugal, Eurostat data show that the Portuguese energy mix is ​​led (43.7%) by oil and derivatives, 28.9% renewable energy and biofuels, 23.5% natural gas, 2.6% solid fossil fuels and 0.6% electricity. Of all the energy consumed in Portugal in 2020, 65.3% was imported — 99.3% from natural gas and 97.6% from oil.

Russian energy

Also according to Eurostat, 5% of the energy imported to Portugal came from Russia: 9.6% of the natural gas used in the country and 6% of the oil. Portugal is, therefore, among the 27 Member States, the fourth least dependent on Russia in terms of energy.

The countries most dependent on Russian energy are Hungary (54.2% of imported energy comes from Russia), the Netherlands (49%) and Greece (46.5%). On the opposite side of the table are Ireland (3.2%), Norway (3.9%) and Luxembourg (4.3%).