Cyprus Mail 28 August 2019 - article by Annette Chrysostomou
Cyprus is one of the eight countries in Europe totally dependent on oil imports for its consumption, according to a new Eurostat report.
In 2017 the EU relied on net imports for 87 per cent of its oil consumption. This ratio, known as the oil import dependency rate, is unchanged from 2016 and two percentage points below the peak of 89 per cent recorded in 2015.
Dependency rates above 100 per cent indicate a build-up of oil stocks, while negative dependency rates indicate a net exporting country.
The EU Member State with the highest oil import dependency rate in 2017 was Estonia (115 per cent). At the other end of the scale, the dependency rate for the UK was 35 per cent and minus 4 per cent for Denmark.
Cyprus, with 101 per cent, is in the group of eight countries with dependency levels of 100 per cent and more. A further 11 member states are between 96 per cent and 99 per cent dependent on oil imports.
