*Italy, which vies with Spain (MEES, 17 February) as Europe’s largest oil importer behind Germany, saw import volumes rise by 10% to 1.26mn b/d for 2022, bringing them back in line with pre-Covid levels.
*But whilst overall imports are close to those seen in 2018 and 2019, the origin of those volumes has evolved. 2022 saw record imports from Russia, as well as from the Americas, whilst volumes from the Middle East fell to a multi-decade low both in volume terms and as a share of overall imports (see chart & table). (CONTINUED - 692 WORDS)
