Why does the EU need to import its oil?
Oil accounts for a large share of the energy consumed in the EU, but the EU member states do not house any large oil reserves. This is why the EU imports almost all its crude oil (around 97% in 2024).

Although the EU is transitioning away from fossil fuels, it is still highly dependent on oil imports. In 2025, the EU imported around 435 million tonnes (Mt) of crude oil, worth over €212 billion.

Top crude oil suppliers in 2025
The EU’s top three import partners in 2025 were the United States, Kazakhstan and Norway, with all three providing between 12% and 15% of the EU’s oil imports (in terms of quantities imported).

The EU’s fourth import partner was Libya, with a share of over 9%, followed by Saudi Arabia (6.8%) and Nigeria and Iraq (both with a share of 5.8%). Around 7% of the EU’s oil imports in 2025 came from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In terms of the value of the oil imported, the US tops the list with an even greater share of 15.1%, followed by Norway (14.4%), Kazakhstan (12.7%), Libya (9%) and Saudi Arabia (6.5%).

Moving away from Russian oil
The EU’s main partners for oil imports have changed significantly in the last few years. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the EU has imposed sanctions on Russia in order to diminish its ability to wage its illegal war of aggression.

Russia’s share of the EU’s oil imports dropped from 25.8% in 2021 to 2.2% in 2025. This was mainly compensated for by growing imports from the US, Norway and Kazakhstan.

The chart below shows the amount of oil imported by the EU in millions of tonnes.

Production of crude oil in the EU
Only a minimal portion of the EU’s oil supply is sourced within the EU. Crude oil extraction in the EU has been decreasing for the last 20 years. In 2024 (the last year for which data is available), the EU countries produced 15.5 Mt of crude oil – equivalent to only 3.6% of overall imports.

The top oil producers in the EU in 2024 were Italy (4.37 Mt), Denmark (2.96 Mt) and Romania (2.76 Mt), followed by Germany (1.6 Mt) and Hungary (1 Mt).

While the EU is highly dependent on third countries for crude oil extraction, it does have a large refining sector. The crude oil that is imported into the EU is transformed in refineries in the EU to make petroleum products, including various types of fuel for cars, aircraft and ships.

In 2024, EU refineries produced 543.7 Mt of petroleum products. The biggest producer of petroleum products was Germany, followed by Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

Consumption of oil and petroleum products by sector
Almost two thirds of oil is used for transport – primarily in the road transport sector, which was responsible for 47.7% of the EU’s oil consumption in 2024. Other sectors that use significant amounts of oil are air transport, water transport and industry.

The industrial sector uses oil both as an energy source and for non-energy uses, for example to make products such as bitumen for road surfaces, plastics and tyres.
Source: European Council