EU Oil Import Value Climbed 55.8% in Second Quarter of 2026

The European Union’s average monthly spending on petroleum oil imports was 55.8% higher in the second quarter of 2026 than the 2025 monthly average, while the volume imported rose 1.2%.

The comparison covers April through June against the average month across all of 2025. EU petroleum oil imports averaged 36.7 million tonnes per month in Q2, compared with 36.3 million tonnes in 2025. The increase in import value outpaced the increase in volume, but the figures do not isolate the effects of oil prices, currency movements or changes in the mix of imports.

The United States supplied 18.8% of the EU’s petroleum oil imports in Q2.

In August, daily oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz averaged 7.6 million barrels, down 13.1 million barrels from prewar levels. The August figures were provisional.

The Q2 figures here cover petroleum oil imports alone. A previous report examined Europe’s broader energy-import costs amid the Strait of Hormuz disruption.

Battery-electric cars made up 22.7% of new EU registrations from January through September 2026, compared with 16.1% in the same period a year earlier. The EU recorded 1,931,465 new battery-electric registrations during those nine months. Those figures do not establish that higher fuel prices caused the increase.

On Oct. 22, the European Commission’s Oil Coordination Group said diesel and jet-fuel supplies remained tight, but Europe had no physical shortage of either at the time. The group said the Commission would continue monitoring the situation.