Russian providers dominate the amount of oil imported to the European Union (EU) and most imports are from "unstable countries", according to data from a new study provided by Cambridge Econometrics for Transport & Environment (T&E).
According to the study, 88 percent of all of the EU's crude oil is imported, and eight out of the top ten oil suppliers to Europe are non-European companies.
Russian firms supply 36 percent of imported crude to the EU, with Rosneft exporting 20 percent of that, and Lukoil exporting 12 percent. Only two EU-based companies - Shell and Norway's Statoil - are in the top ten of producers supplying oil to the region.
"Europe's profligate use of oil is filling the pockets of big oil companies in unstable countries including Russia and Libya," said T&E oil policy officer Laura Buffet.
In addition to Russia and Libya, most of Europe's oil came from countries deemed by the report researchers as "unstable," including, Libya, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, and Angola.
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Europe's increased dependence on crude oil seemed to coincide with Europe's dependence on diesel, which doubled between 2001 and 2014, the report went on to say.
During that same period, domestic crude oil production, and even crude oil imports from fairly stable countries, decreased-forcing Europe to rely even more heavily on unstable countries to meet their booming demand.
T&E analysts called for reducing the carbon footprint caused by transportation, and suggest a shift toward electric vehicles, which would lead to a 1% increase in EU GDP, create up to 2 million new jobs and reduce emissions from cars and vans 83 percent by 2050.
By Erwin Cifuentes for Oilprice.com
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Erwin Cifuentes is a Contributing Editor for Southern Pulse Info where he focuses on politics, economics and security issues in Latin America and the Caribbean.… More
