European nations' energy dependency on Gulf remains high

European countries face a renewed energy crisis as the escalating conflict in the Middle East halted critical shipments from the Persian Gulf and sent international prices soaring.

While Europe was traditionally less reliant on the Gulf than Asia by sourcing more natural gas from the US and Norway, the continent remained vulnerable to global price shocks following years of instability triggered by the war in Ukraine.

The Netherlands led European energy imports in 2024 with $105 billion, followed by France at $73 billion and Germany at $66 billion, as these nations struggled to rebuild industrial bases amid lackluster economic output, New York Times research showed.

The UK and Spain also maintained significant exposure with imports totaling $62 billion and $53 billion, respectively, while Italy recorded $50 billion in energy trade.

Belgium and Poland also contended with the disruption as their 2024 imports reached $47 billion and $28 billion, respectively, forcing the EU to weigh the impact of higher costs on inflation and mortgage rates.

Greece and Sweden's energy imports from the Gulf totaled $19 billion and $18 billion, respectively.

Among European nations, Greece had the highest level of dependence on Gulf countries for energy, buying 36% of all its energy imports from the Gulf region.

Lithuania followed Greece with 32%, Poland with 30%, Serbia with 29%, and Bulgaria and Slovenia both with 23%.

Italy had the largest share among major European economies with 22%, while its total energy imports totaled $50 billion in 2024.

Albania's share was 22%, France's 18%, Ireland's 14%, and Iceland's 13%.

The Gulf region accounted for 11% of the UK's energy imports in 2024, while its share for the Netherlands stood at 10%.

Spain's dependency rate was at 9%, Romania and Denmark both 8%, Ukraine, Austria and Germany all 7%, while other European countries' shares were lower than 5%.