Crude oil production in EU drops by 10%

Crude oil production in the European Union dropped by 10.4% in 2005 with a total of 119 million tons. Crude oil production of the United Kingdom, which is the largest producer in the European Union, continued to fall.

According to figures released recently by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, net imports of crude oil into the EU did not increase in 2005, compared to the previous year and reached 580 million tons.

Net exports of the UK have strongly declined over the last years.
For the first time the UK imported more crude oil than it exported.

On the other hand imports of petroleum products into the EU rose by 10%.

Compared to 2004, net EU-25 imports of crude oil and petroleum products increased by around 2.7% and reached 574 million tons.

Russia was the biggest exporter of crude oil to the EU in 2005 with 184 million tons followed by Norway (91 mt), Saudi Arabia (60.6 mt), Libya (52 mt) and Iran (34 mt).

IRNA