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Europe increasingly reliant on Russian oil supplies

MOSCOW, February 6. /ITAR-TASS/. European countries are increasingly dependent on oil import from Russia, says the report of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Analysts explain this trend with Europe’s gas shortage due to insufficient hydrocarbon production at home, which is decreasing faster than demand, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) is supplied to Asia, not Europe, and fuel storages in Europe remain insignificant. As it was reported earlier, Europe is trying to tackle the issue of its dependence on Russian hydrocarbons.

According to the Central Dispatching Department of the Fuel Complex, foreign countries imported 228.3 million tons of oil last year, with about 200 million tons out of this amount going to Europe against 212.5 million tons and 190 million tons respectively a year earlier.

According to Gazprom Export, Russian gas supplies to Western Europe increased 20% to 127 billion cubic meters last year. Supplies to Eastern and Central Europe expanded 4.3% to 34.43 billion cubic meters, while total exports to Europe grew 16.3% to 161.48 billion cubic meters.

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