As of June 2022, nineteen European Union (EU) Member States, including Luxembourg, held emergency oil stocks above that required by EU law, according to data analysed from the European statistics agency Eurostat.
The minimum emergency oil stocks, a key obligation for EU Member States to maintain at all times is equivalent to at least 90 days of average daily net imports, excluding the Netherlands and Denmark. For these two Member States, the 61 days of average daily inland consumption are higher than the 90 days of average daily net imports and hence, the 61 days of average daily inland consumption act as the minimum emergency oil stocks threshold.
Oil represents nearly 35% of the EU's energy mix and therefore, emergency oil stocks are key to energy security.
Finland reported 195 days equivalent of emergency oil stocks in reserve in May 2022 (latest data available), the highest in the EU, followed by Greece (133 days equivalent, March 2022) and Sweden (126 days equivalent, April 2022). However, the emergency reserves decreased in all three Member States compared to January 2022.
Eight Member States reported lower emergency oil reserves in June 2022 than the 90 days of average daily net imports obligation, namely Croatia (87 days equivalent), Lithuania (86 days), Romania (85 days, May 2022), Austria (84 days), Italy (83 days), Bulgaria (82 days), Latvia (81 days) and Ireland (80 days).
22 Member States held part of their emergency oil stock in other Member State facilities, with Luxembourg reporting 93% of its emergency oil stocks outside its territory, the highest share in the EU, followed by Malta (81%) and Belgium (65%). Only five Member States, namely Greece, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Finland, held 100% of their emergency oil stocks within their territory.
Of the 20 Member States for which the total oil and petroleum products stocks were reported as of June 2022, only Czechia, Hungary, Portugal and Slovakia reported a net increase compared to June 2021 whilst the remaining sixteen Member States reported a net decrease in total annual stock changes. The total of 151.97 million tonnes of oil and petroleum products stocks in the EU as of February 2022 was 10.5% less than that of February 2021 (169.73 million tonnes).
