Dependence on Russian oil in the EU and UK 2020, by country

Among European Union countries, Slovakia is the most dependent on Russian oil and petroleum products. In 2020, Russia was the origin country for 78 percent of the country's total imports of such commodities. In Germany, Russian oil products held a 30 percent market share. This has become cause for concern for the EU as it tries to distance itself from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. An already unfolding energy crisis was worsened as a result.

Europe is Russia’s largest oil export market

When EU leaders began debating how to sanction Russia, it illuminated an unfortunate predicament. Namely, the fact that many European countries had grown strongly dependent on energy supplies from their oil and gas-rich neighbor. Apart from Norway, Russia is the only country located on the European continent with sizable reserves of these fossil fuels. Buoyed by their relative close proximity, EU member states such as the Netherlands (a refinery hub), Germany, and Poland have thus been among Russia’s main crude oil export destinations for years.

Rising energy costs and insecurity

When the EU decided to cut out Russian oil and gas imports as much as possible, it put further upward pressure on an already hot commodity market. The Russia-Ukraine war had led to many market traders anticipating some of the worst oil constraints seen since the oil crisis of 2014, and benchmark prices rose significantly. As energy prices are largely determined by the price of fossil fuels, a respectable share of Europeans has been struggling to pay their energy bills.