BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 8. In the second quarter of 2023, gas consumption in the European Union (EU) continued its downward trajectory, falling below the five-year range of 2017-2021, Trend reports via the European Commission.
Year-on-year, gas consumption decreased by 8 percent, contrasting with the second quarter of 2022 when it was at 71 billion cubic meters (bcm). Additionally, there was a quarter-on-quarter decline of 42 percent, compared to 113 bcm in the first quarter of 2023. The total gas consumption in the EU for the second quarter of 2023 amounted to 65 bcm, marking a decrease of 48 bcm from the previous quarter and 6 bcm from the same period in 2022.
This decline extends a trend of six consecutive quarters of year-on-year decrease and, if the lack of consumption increase in the fourth quarter of 2021 is considered, eight consecutive quarters back to the third quarter of 2021.
The substantial drop from the first to the second quarter underscores the seasonality of gas usage, as the winter heating season concludes, and the summer cooling season begins. During the April-June period of 2023, the EU consumed 42 percent less natural gas than in the first quarter of the same year. A similar 45 percent quarter-on-quarter drop was observed in the second quarter of 2022 for similar reasons.
In a year-on-year comparison, gas consumption decreased in 20 EU Member States and increased in 6. The most significant decreases were recorded in Lithuania (-24.4 percent) and Portugal (-24.1 percent), followed by Estonia (-22 percent) and Latvia (-21.8 percent). Double-digit decreases were also observed in Denmark (-14.3 percent), France (-14.2 percent), Bulgaria (-13.7 percent), Italy (-11.8 percent), Romania (-11.8 percent), and Austria (-11.3 percent). Conversely, Malta registered a 16 percent increase in gas consumption (following a 16 percent increase in the previous quarter), and Finland recorded a 13.4 percent year-on-year increase (after a 24 percent drop in the previous quarter). Single-digit consumption increases were observed in Croatia (+9 percent), Sweden (+5 percent), Slovenia (+3.2 percent), and Slovakia (+3 percent) in the second quarter of 2023.
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