Netherlands now more dependent on US for energy, less on Russia

The Netherlands’ energy dependence on other countries increased gradually from 70 percent to 78 percent between 2015 and 2024. The remaining 22 percent of energy supplies are sourced from within the Netherlands. That increase was mainly due to the gradual reduction in natural gas extracted from the Groningen gas field since 2014. Only the increased production of renewable energy has stopped energy dependence from increasing even further.

Energy imports from Russia fell sharply following the invasion of Ukraine, from 21 percent in 2021 to 3 percent in 2024. By contrast, energy dependence on the United States increased from 3 percent in 2015 to 24 percent in 2024. Energ dependence on Norway was more stable, meanwhile, hovering at around 15 percent over the same period.

More crude oil imported from the US

In 2024, 39 percent of all energy consumed in the Netherlands came from crude oil imported from other countries. Crude oil imports from the United States have been on the rise since 2015. This increase has coincided with a surge in oil production and exports from the US.

The decline in oil imports from Russia mainly took place in 2022 and 2023. Oil imports from other countries rose in 2024, with the most being imported from the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom. The Netherlands has also become more dependent on Kazakhstan, Brazil and Guyana, as a result of increased crude oil imports from those countries.

Dependence on US mainly for natural gas

Between 2015 and 2024, the Netherlands became more reliant on natural gas from abroad, with the largest increase occurring prior to 2020. In 2024, the Netherlands energy dependency on natural gas from the US was 11 percent. Natural gas extraction in the US has increased in recent years, as well as the production of crude oil.

Natural gas from Norway also made up a large share of the Netherlands’ total energy supply, at 10 percent. Imports of natural gas from the United States consisted entirely of liquefied natural gas (LNG), while natural gas imports from Norway were mainly in gaseous form.

Imports of natural gas from Russia fell sharply between 2021 and 2023: from 7 percent of the total energy supply to 1 percent. There was a slight rise again in 2024, with imports made up almost exclusively of LNG.

EU also less dependent on Russia for its energy

The European Union as a whole has also become less dependent on Russia to meet its energy needs. In 2021, Russia supplied 19 percent of the EU’s energy needs, but by 2023 this had fallen to 3 percent. By 2023, the country on which the EU was the most dependent to meet its energy supplies was Norway, rather than Russia as had previously been the case. Meanwhile, the EU’s energy dependence on the United States increased significantly, from 1 percent in 2015 to 9 percent in 2023. Since 2020, energy imported from the UK has also counted towards the EU’s energy dependence because that was the year that the UK left the European Union.

Total dependence on energy from outside the EU remained broadly constant between 2015 and 2023, and was 56 percent in 2023. Other countries that the EU depended on to supply its energy in 2023 were Algeria (mainly for natural gas) and Kazakhstan (mainly for crude oil), as well as Nigeria, Libya, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which remain important for oil imports. In general, energy imports into the EU come from a wider range of countries than energy imports into the Netherlands.