- The EU consumed 521 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2010.
- By 2020, that number dropped to 380 billion.
- Down 27%
Problem though is production has fallen heavily.
In 1998, the EU produced 234 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
That number today is around 80% less.
Another issue is the drop in the EU’s natural gas consumption during the 2010s wasn’t actually due to a change in natural gas consumption, but largely a change in the EU itself.
The EU consumed 470 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2019, but that fell heavily due to the United Kingdom leaving the EU at the end of that year and not factored in for 2020.
Meaning the actual drop in consumption was only 9.7% in 10 years.
Comparing that with the US, natural gas boomed in the 2010s.
The US produced 940 billion cubic meters in 2020.
Up from 580 billion in 2010.
Russia also grew from about 550 billion cubic meters a year to 700.
This lack of natural gas production created several problems for the EU.
Dependence on Russia
Russia supplies natural gas to Europe and has supplied more every single year of this century.
Higher electricity prices
The EU averages 21 cents a kilowatt, to the US averaging 12 cents.
40% of the US’s electricity comes from natural gas, which is the biggest factor in it being so cheap.
Coal issues
Europe has slowed down coal consumption down, where it’s only 12% of electricity used.
Issue is 39% of electricity is from fossil fuel still in Europe and natural gas could reduce coal even more.
What does this all mean.
Europe banned fracking years ago, while Russia and the US got wealthy on it and I can’t really say it hurt either countries.
Fracking, while very clearly not perfect is a near 100 year old technology, which the big innovation in the late 2000s was horizontal fracking, being able to frack sideways on existing wells and obtain natural gas or more oil.
And despite years of fear over it and over a billion invested in research, the US’s own EPA hasn’t concluded it causes either earthquakes or water issues.