Tankers: EU Crude Oil Imports Down in 2025 in Hellenic Shipping News 21/02/2026 EU crude oil imports fell slightly during 2025, with volumes retreating mainly from the Arabian Gulf and from the USA. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “in Jan-Dec 2024, global crude oil loadings went down by -0.2% y-o-y to 2,181.2 mln tonnes, excluding all cabotage trade, according to vessels tracking data from LSEG. In Jan-Dec 2025, global crude oil loadings increased by +2.0% y-o-y to 2,224.7 mln tonnes, excluding all cabotage trade, according to vessels tracking data from LSEG. Exports from the Arabian Gulf were up by +1.7% y-o-y to 883.4 mln t in Jan-Dec 2025, accounting for 39.7% of seaborne crude trade. Exports from Russia (including oil of Kazakh origin) increased by +2.1% y-o-y in Jan-Dec 2025 to 233.4 mln tonnes, or 10.5% of global trade. From South America, exports increased by +11.0% y-o-y to 220.6 mln t, with a share of 9.9%. From the USA, exports declined by -8.0% y-o-y at 181.7 mln tonnes in Jan-Dec 2025, an 8.2% share. From South East Asia exports fell by -11.3% y-o-y to 106.7 mln t in Jan-Dec 2025 (but this inevitably reflects changes in the re-export of Russian origin volumes)”. Source: Banchero Costa According to Banchero Costa, “in terms of demand, the top seaborne importer of crude oil in Jan-Dec 2025 was Mainland China, accounting for 23.0% of global trade. Volumes into China however declined by -0.6% y-o-y to 505.2 mln t. Imports to the EU27 declined by -2.7% y-o-y to 460.6 mln tonnes. To ASEAN, imports increased by +7.2% y-o-y to 284.4 mln t (again this includes Russian volumes later re-exported elsewhere in Asia). To India, volumes increased by +2.7% y-o-y to 239.6 mln t in Jan-Dec 2025. Imports into the USA fell by -9.4% y-o-y to 121.5 mln tonnes in Jan-Dec 2025”. The shipbroker added that “the European Union is now again the world’s second largest seaborne importer of crude oil, after having briefly overtaken China in 2022. Seaborne imports into the European Union (27) increased by +4.5% y-o-y to 472.9 mln t in Jan-Dec 2023, with the EU accounting for 21.7% of global seaborne crude oil imports. In Jan-Dec 2024, crude imports to the EU27 increased by +0.2% y-o-y to 473.6 mln t. In Jan-Dec 2025, imports declined by -2.7% y-o-y to 460.6 mln t. About 12.4 percent of crude oil volumes discharged in the EU in Jan-Dec 2025 were carried in VLCCs, about 40.4 percent were carried in Suezmaxes, and about 44.8 percent in Aframaxes. Top ports in the EU in Jan-Dec 2025 were Rotterdam (99.3 mln tonnes of crude oil), Trieste (40.9 mln t), Gdansk (35.5 mln t), Fos (21.0 mln t), Le Havre (20.0 mln t), Wilhelmshaven (16.1 mln t), Cartagena (13.3 mln t), Sarroch (11.4 mln t), Augusta (10.5 mln t). In terms of sources of the shipments, there has been understandably a bit of politically driven reshuffling in recent years”. Source: Banchero Costa “Seaborne imports from Russian ports (which also includes oil of nonRussian origin such as Kazakh oil), rebounded significantly by +4.2% y-o-y in Jan-Dec 2025 to 60.6 mln t, but is still down by almost one-third from the 98.4 mln t in Jan-Dec 2022. Novorossiysk is still the single largest origin port for crude oil imports into the EU, accounting for 56.3 mln tonnes in Jan-Dec 2025. Russian ports have now fallen to the fourth largest source of seaborne oil to the EU, accounting for 13.2% of volumes in Jan-Dec 2025, behind North Africa (including Sidi Kerir) with 19.8%, the North Se