Estonia Energy Information

Total Energy Consumption

Total energy consumption per capita is about 3.6 toe/cap (2019), i.e. 16% above the EU average. This is mainly due to the high share of oil shale, since it requires a significant amount of energy to be processed: in 2019, the fall in oil shale-fired power generation resulted in a 24% fall in the energy consumption per capita. Electricity consumption is in line with the EU average (5 900 kWh, +6%).

Graph: CONSUMPTION TRENDS BY ENERGY SOURCE (Mtoe)

Interactive Chart Estonia Total Energy Consumption

Crude Oil Production

All of the country's oil product consumption is imported (1.3 Mt in 2019). Gasoline imports remained stable at 403 kt in 2019, while diesel imports dipped by 8% to 814 kt. Oil products used to come mainly from Russia, which is no longer the case (43% of the imports in 2019). Besides Russia, imports came from Lithuania (31%) and Finland (10%) in 2019.

Interactive Chart Estonia Crude Oil Production

Oil Products Consumption

Oil product consumption has remained stable around 1 Mtoe since 2010. It rose very rapidly between 2000 and 2007 (3.3%/year).

Graph: OIL CONSUMPTION (Mt)

Transport absorbs nearly 73% of the consumption, followed by the residential and services sector (12%) and industry (12%) (2019).

Graph: OIL CONSUMPTION BREAKDOWN BY SECTOR (2019, %)

Interactive Chart Estonia Refined Oil Products Production

Natural Gas Consumption

Gas consumption has remained stable since 2015 at around 0.5 bcm. It halved between 2008 and 2015, because of the economic crisis (-32% in 2009 alone), the progressive conversion of heat producers to other fuels (especially biomass), and the closure of a large fertiliser plant in 2014.

District heating is the main natural gas consumer (34% of consumption in 2019). Nearly 1/3 of the gas (36% in 2019) is consumed by the residential-tertiary-agriculture sector (including 19% for services and 15% households) and 26% by industry.

Graph: NATURAL GAS CONSUMPTION (bcm)

Interactive Chart Estonia Natural Gas Domestic Consumption

Coal Consumption

Oil shale consumption, which grew by 3.1%/year (+54%) between 2000 and 2014 when it reached 21 Mt, has ranged between 18 Mt and 22 Mt since then. Consumption fell by 27% in 2019 to 15.9 Mt (reduced consumption in the power sector).

In 2019, 38% of oil shale was consumed by power plants and 59% by district heating plants and liquefaction plants (to produce shale oil)

Graph: OIL SHALE CONSUMPTION (Mt)

Graph: OIL SHALE CONSUMPTION BREAKDOWN BY SECTOR (2019, %)

Interactive Chart Estonia Coal and Lignite Domestic Consumption

Power Consumption

Electricity consumption has been rather stable at around 8 TWh since 2016, declining by 2.7% to 7.8 TWh in 2019. It increased rapidly (+4.1%/year) between 2000 and 2007, but grew at a much slower pace thereafter (+1.4%/year, on average, between 2009 and 2016).

Services account for 37% of power consumption, followed by households (27%) and industry (27%) (2019).

Graph: ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION (TWh)

Graph: ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION BREAKDOWN BY SECTOR (2019,%)

Renewable in % Electricity Production

The EU Directive on renewables sets a target of 25% renewables in final consumption in 2020 (10% in transport and 4.8% in electricity consumption).

Renewable targets set in the energy development plan for 2030 (2017) -28% in primary energy consumption, 50% in final energy consumption. and 80% of heat production in 2030 - have been updated in the NECP. The NECP sets a target of at least 42% of renewable energy in total final consumption by 2030, including 4.3 TWh of renewable electricity (up from 1.8 TWh in 2018), 11 TWh of renewable heat and 0.7 TWh for transport.

Interactive Chart Estonia Share of Renewables in Electricity Production (incl hydro)

CO₂ Fuel Combustion/CO₂ Emissions

According to the Protocol, Estonia's Kyoto objective was easily reached as in 2012 GHG emissions were 50% below their 1990 level (reduction target of 8%). Most of the reduction in CO₂-energy emissions occurred between 1990 and 1993 (-47%); since then, the emission level has been fluctuating around 20 Mt and after 2018 decreased under 15 Mt to 13 Mt in 2019.

Graph: CO₂-ENERGY EMISSIONS (MtCO₂)