Volume of crude oil imports to Italy 2021, by country of origin

In 2021, Azerbaijan exported roughly 13 million tons of crude oil to Italy, establishing itself as the major crude oil supplier for the country. Oil exports from Libya increased by 200 percent compared to 2020. Consequently, Libya took Iraq’s position as second main crude oil supplier to Italy with over 10 million tons.  

Italy's dependency on imported fossil fuels

In general, the volume of crude oil imported to Italy decreased over time, dropping to 57 million metric tons in 2021. Nonetheless, the country is still highly dependent on imports of fossil fuels. For instance, the petroleum dependency rate in Italy was over 96 percent, while the natural gas dependency rate was almost 94 percent.  

Major fossil fuels suppliers to Italy

While crude oil was mainly imported from Azerbaijan, Libya, and Iraq, Algeria and Russia were the leading suppliers of natural gas to Italy in 2021 and in the first half of 2022. In comparison, Qatar was the fist country for liquefied natural gas imports to Italy in 2021. Although the price of crude oil was increasing, Italy’s national expenditure on this fossil fuel was one of the lowest in 2021.