16/04/24 (Agence Europe) – In 2022, the EU’s dependence on imports of crude oil and petroleum products reached a record level of 97.7%, compared with 91.6% in 2021, Eurostat reported on Monday 15 April. This increase was due to a combination of a rise in net imports (+9.5%), an increase in imports (+4.9%), a fall in exports (-1.7%) and a rise in gross available energy (+2.8%). The build-up of stocks also added 8.3 million tonnes of oil equivalent, making it possible to replenish part of the reserves depleted in 2021. In response to the invasion of Ukraine, imports of oil and oil products from Russia fell by 24.57 million tonnes in 2022. To see the Eurostat publication: https://aeur.eu/f/bs7 (PLD)