Russia remains most important oil supplier, USA catching up

In view of the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, particular attention has recently been paid to the crude oil import data published by the German Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA). This is because they confirm Russia's role as the most important oil supplier for Germany. A boycott of Russian oil deliveries, however, was reportedly not on the sanctions list of the U.S. government or the EU. This is in contrast to the Nord Stream II Baltic Sea pipeline, which is to supply Russian natural gas to Europe and whose stoppage is regarded by the USA as inevitable in the event of an incident.

As for German crude oil imports in December, they amounted to 7.5 million tons. This was 12.7 percent more than a year earlier (6.7 million tons). In 2021 as a whole, 81.4 million tons were imported into Germany, 1.6 percent less than in 2020 (82.7 million tons). Russia was the undisputed leader out of a total of 30 countries from which Germany sourced its crude oil in 2021. At 27.7 million tons, a good third (34.08 percent) of German crude oil imports came from Russia. Thus, the share of Russian oil in the total German import volumes increased again slightly compared to 2020, it as 30.00 percent were. Within four years, the USA has risen to become Germany's second most important oil supplier. If in 2017 still 0.9 million tons came from the United States, in 2021 with 10.2 million tons already the tenfold quantity was landed.

Last year, 18.9 percent of German oil supplies came from British and Norwegian North Sea oil wells, while 17.4 percent were imported from OPEC member countries.