Imports of energy resources decreased by 5.5% in 2023 compared to the previous year, while gross domestic energy consumption decreased by 3.5% and final energy consumption recorded a 3.2% decline, it shows provisional data published on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

According to the quoted source, at a general level, the total energy resources available in 2023 have decreased compared to those in 2022, up to 42 million tons of oil equivalent (toe), during which the primary energy production decreased by 1.5%.

Also, more significant decreases in resources were recorded for imported coke (-49.5%), coal (-21.6%) and crude oil (-11.1%).

On the other hand, the resources of imported petroleum products (+29.3%), hydroelectric, wind, solar photovoltaic and nuclear heat (+10.0%) and natural gas (+6%) increased.

The INS data reveal the fact that, in 2023, primary energy production (21.918 million toe) decreased by 344,000 toe compared to the similar period in 2022, against the background of the decrease in coal and soot production. In contrast, the production of electricity from renewable sources increased by 437,000 tep (+21.8%) and the production of usable natural gas by 129,000 tep (+1.7%).

Regarding the import of energy products, it decreased, in the analyzed period, by 5.5%, due to the decrease in imports of coal and coke (-49%), coal (-15.3%) and usable natural gas (-6.2%). At the opposite pole was the import of petroleum products, with a jump of 29.3%.

From one year to another, in 2023, the final energy consumption, for the total economy, decreased by 3.2%, as a result of the activities in industry (-13.8%), for the population (-4.3%) and from agriculture and forestry (-2.7%). Consumption from transport and other branches of the economy increased by 3.9% and 3.8%, respectively.

At the same time, in the total final energy consumption, transport consumption has the largest share (33.7%), followed by population consumption (32.5%) and industry consumption (21.3%).

AGERPRES