Gas consumption in Europe (that of the 27 EU countries as well as that of Norway, Switzerland and Turkey) was approximately the same as the previous year’s figure at about 530 billion cubic metres in 2007. The reason for stagnation is that natural gas consumption increased in certain European countries while it decreased in other significant natural gas consuming countries. Last year a constant consumption increase could be witnessed in Spain, Great Britain, Italy and Turkey while in other countries – mainly in Germany, France and Holland – the consumption decreased.
Natural gas consumption in Europe decreased again last year due to the milder weather in winter. Despite the 1.6 percent decline in consumption, natural gas amounts to approximately 25 percent in the total primary energy consumption of Europe.