Flows
How oil reaches each country
Where the EU’s crude oil and fuel come from, as each member state reports its imports; every band’s width is proportional to tonnes.
In November 2023, Ireland's petrol supply was 65 kt: 39% from its own refineries, with imports from the Netherlands (30%), the United Kingdom (25%) and Belgium (6%); tracing one step back, the crude behind it is estimated to come mainly from the United States (40%) and Norway (11%), and 27% cannot be traced.
Country
United States26 kt (est. 40%)Norway7.0 kt (est. 11%)United Kingdom2.7 kt (est. 4%)Iraq2.6 kt (est. 4%)Nigeria2.5 kt (est. 4%)Brazil1.9 kt (est. 3%)Denmark1.4 kt (est. 2%)Other crude origins3.4 kt (est. 5%)United Kingdom: no crude data16 kt (25%)Netherlands: crude origin not reported1.0 kt (1%)Smaller flows: crude origin not reported0.3 kt (<1%)Ireland (own refineries)25 kt (39%)Netherlands20 kt (30%)United Kingdom16 kt (25%)Belgium4.0 kt (6%)Ireland: petrol supply65 kt (100%)
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Crude origin (estimate)
- Colour = where it went:
- Ireland (own refineries)
- Netherlands
- United Kingdom
- Belgium
- United States26 kt (est. 40%)
- Norway7.0 kt (est. 11%)
- United Kingdom2.7 kt (est. 4%)
- Iraq2.6 kt (est. 4%)
- Nigeria2.5 kt (est. 4%)
- Brazil1.9 kt (est. 3%)
- Denmark1.4 kt (est. 2%)
- Other crude origins3.4 kt (est. 5%)
- United Kingdom: no crude data16 kt (25%)
- Netherlands: crude origin not reported1.0 kt (1%)
- Smaller flows: crude origin not reported0.3 kt (<1%)
Last shipped from
- Reported (solid)
- Our arithmetic on reported figures (dotted)
- Estimated crude behind the fuel (dashed)
- Cannot be traced (hatched)
- Reported (solid)
- Our arithmetic on reported figures (dotted)
- Estimated crude behind the fuel (dashed)
- Cannot be traced (hatched)
The numbers as a table
| From | To | Tonnes | Share | How we know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland (own refineries) | Ireland: petrol supply | 25,165 | 38.8% | ReportedEurostat nrg_cb_oilm (refinery output) |
| Netherlands | Ireland: petrol supply | 19,699 | 30.4% | ReportedEurostat nrg_ti_oilm (imports by partner country, energy basis) |
| United Kingdom | Ireland: petrol supply | 15,924 | 24.6% | ReportedEurostat nrg_ti_oilm (imports by partner country, energy basis) |
| Belgium | Ireland: petrol supply | 4,009 | 6.2% | ReportedEurostat nrg_ti_oilm (imports by partner country, energy basis) |
| From | To | Tonnes | Share | How we know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Ireland (own refineries) | 19,935 | 79.2% | EstimatedEstimate: Ireland's petrol to Ireland split by Ireland's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| United Kingdom: no crude data | United Kingdom | 15,924 | 100.0% | UnknownWe hold no crude import statistics for the supplying country, and we do not assume what its refineries run on. |
| United States | Netherlands | 5,471 | 27.8% | EstimatedEstimate: Netherlands's petrol to Ireland split by Netherlands's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Norway | Ireland (own refineries) | 3,831 | 15.2% | EstimatedEstimate: Ireland's petrol to Ireland split by Ireland's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Norway | Netherlands | 2,513 | 12.8% | EstimatedEstimate: Netherlands's petrol to Ireland split by Netherlands's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Other crude origins | Netherlands | 2,425 | 12.3% | EstimatedEstimate: Netherlands's petrol to Ireland split by Netherlands's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Iraq | Netherlands | 2,318 | 11.8% | EstimatedEstimate: Netherlands's petrol to Ireland split by Netherlands's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| United Kingdom | Netherlands | 2,261 | 11.5% | EstimatedEstimate: Netherlands's petrol to Ireland split by Netherlands's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Nigeria | Netherlands | 2,145 | 10.9% | EstimatedEstimate: Netherlands's petrol to Ireland split by Netherlands's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Brazil | Netherlands | 1,605 | 8.1% | EstimatedEstimate: Netherlands's petrol to Ireland split by Netherlands's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Denmark | Ireland (own refineries) | 1,399 | 5.6% | EstimatedEstimate: Ireland's petrol to Ireland split by Ireland's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Netherlands: crude origin not reported | Netherlands | 961 | 4.9% | UnknownThe supplying country's statistics did not say where part of its crude came from. |
| Other crude origins | Belgium | 933 | 23.3% | EstimatedEstimate: Belgium's petrol to Ireland split by Belgium's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| United States | Belgium | 799 | 19.9% | EstimatedEstimate: Belgium's petrol to Ireland split by Belgium's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Norway | Belgium | 612 | 15.3% | EstimatedEstimate: Belgium's petrol to Ireland split by Belgium's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| United Kingdom | Belgium | 451 | 11.3% | EstimatedEstimate: Belgium's petrol to Ireland split by Belgium's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Nigeria | Belgium | 334 | 8.3% | EstimatedEstimate: Belgium's petrol to Ireland split by Belgium's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Smaller flows: crude origin not reported | Belgium | 308 | 7.7% | UnknownThe supplying country's statistics did not say where part of its crude came from. |
| Iraq | Belgium | 293 | 7.3% | EstimatedEstimate: Belgium's petrol to Ireland split by Belgium's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
| Brazil | Belgium | 279 | 7.0% | EstimatedEstimate: Belgium's petrol to Ireland split by Belgium's crude-import mix over 2023-09 to 2023-11. Confidence: medium. |
Source & method
Source Period 2023-11 (month)Updated 2026-09-26 13:30 UTCConfidenceMediumMethodologyDownload CSV
EurostatInferred · medium
Provenance
Inferred · mediumMedium- Publisher
- Eurostat
- Dataset id
- Imports of oil and petroleum products by partner country, monthly data (refined products)nrg_ti_oilmeurostat_nrg_ti_oilm_products
- Period
- 2023-11 (month)
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-23 12:11 UTC
- Type
- Inferred · medium
- Transformation
- none applied - stored exactly as published
- Licence
- Commission Decision 2011/833/EU - reuse authorised provided the source is acknowledged
- Supplier -> country links are published figures (OFFICIAL; the unattributed remainder and any 'Other suppliers' sum are CALCULATED).
- Crude -> supplier links are an estimate (INFERRED) from each supplier's crude-import mix; the published crude imports behind each one are in links[].evidence.
- Untraceable volumes are explicit UNKNOWN nodes with their cause. They are never spread over the traced origins.
Left: the crude oil behind the fuel (an estimate). Middle: the country’s own refineries and the countries the fuel was last shipped from, which may be a trading hub rather than where it was refined; the estimate treats each as the refiner. Right: Ireland’s supply of petrol in 2023-11, in tonnes of fuel. Only the middle-to-right flows are reported figures.
Month: 2023-11 (requested). Crude mixes are pooled over 2023-09 to 2023-11.
Fuel that cannot be traced, and the reason
- United Kingdom: no crude data (15,924 t): We hold no crude import statistics for the supplying country, and we do not assume what its refineries run on.
- Netherlands: crude origin not reported (961 t): The supplying country's statistics did not say where part of its crude came from.
- Smaller flows: crude origin not reported (308 t): The supplying country's statistics did not say where part of its crude came from.
- Only the supplier -> country links are reported figures. The crude -> supplier links are an estimate: each supplier's fuel is split by that supplier's own crude-import mix over the latest three months.
- Exports are assumed to be drawn from every source in proportion to its share of supply.
- The chain looks back one country only. Imports are counted under the country the fuel was last shipped from; where that country has refineries, fuel that only passed through it is traced as if it had been refined there.
- Widths are tonnes of this fuel, not tonnes of crude oil: a refinery makes several products from each tonne of crude.