After a slump in the Corona period, oil consumption in Germany has increased again this year - despite the Ukraine war and all austerity appeals. This shows an analysis by the energy expert Steffen Bukold on behalf of Greenpeace, which is available to the German Press Agency. Although the values ​​are below pre-pandemic levels, the curve is pointing upwards.

At the same time, oil prices on the world market rose sharply at times after the Russian attack on Ukraine, which also drove up the cost of fuel and heating oil. At the same time, the EU announced an oil embargo against Russia for December 5, which will tighten supply for Europe. Economics Minister Robert Habeck urgently called for oil savings, especially in the spring.

Bukold's analysis is based on data from the International Energy Agency IEA. Accordingly, German consumption fell in the first quarter and then rose. Between April and September, the value was 7.1 percent below the comparative number before the pandemic. In 2020 and 2021 the minus was 11.1 percent.

However, Germany was more economical this year than the average of the OECD countries in Europe. In the same period, this was 4.8 percent lower than before the pandemic.

Greenpeace criticized the development. "The federal government has been looking for new oil dealers with enormous effort, but so far it has done far too little to reduce dependence on oil overall," said spokesman Manfred Santen. "From the speed limit to the cancellation of domestic flights to an extended home office obligation, measures that can be implemented quickly have been on the table for months. The traffic light should finally take them."

Bukold's Analysis