Driven by German and UK demand (these two countries alone were responsible for 58% of the annual increase) and by a relatively cold winter 2016-2017, EU gas demand increased by 7% in 2016 and the growth continued in the first quarter of 2017, when EU demand grew by 5% year-on-year according to the quarterly report on European gas markets published by the Commission on Thursday 20 July.
Higher demand and falling indigenous production (down 3% in 2016) caused imports to increase (up 12%...