EU Gas Demand Fell 13% YoY In 2022

Gas consumption in the EU, excl. Cyprus, fell by just over 13% in 2022 compared with 2021 levels, according to Eurostat data.

• Germany reduced consumption by 15.4% to the lowest for any year since 2014. Consumption in the Netherlands was down by an even larger 21.9% to its slimmest for any year since Eurostat began collecting consumption data in 2008.
• But the continent's three other top-five consumers — Spain, Italy and France — turned down their consumption by less than 10%, with Spain's falling by 3.8%. High gas and power prices drove curtailments and closures across Spanish industry, weighing heavily on gas burn from the sector. But Spanish power-sector gas burn was almost 45% higher last year than in 2019-21, supported by government support for gas-fired plants and limited renewable generation during much of 2022.
• Consumption in northwest Europe — France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark — fell by 15.2%.