Oil and gas supplies made Germany Norway's most important export partner in 2022

Germany imported around 62 billion euros of Norwegian natural gas, oil and condensates in 2022 and has become the country’s number one goods importer, said the German-Norwegian chamber of commerce. Of a total of around 68 billion euros spent in imported goods from Norway last year, around 58 billion euros accounted for gas deliveries alone. “These figures show the importance of Norway for Germany,” head of AHK Norway Michael Kern said. Norway increased its gas production by ten percent last year, and Germany recently covered more than a third of its gas needs with supplies from Norway, the chamber of commerce said. The 68 billion euros account for close to a third of Norway's total export volume, making Germany Norway's largest export partner by a large margin. The chamber of commerce highlighted that in "normal years", Norway's total export of goods to Germany ranges between 20 and 25 billion euros. In 2021, caused by higher prices on the fossil market and increased delivery volumes of oil and gas, it then reached around 32 billion euros, which doubled in 2022.

The two countries have announced they plan to increase cooperation in energy transition areas in the future, with Germany hoping to import significant volumes of hydrogen from Norway within the current decade. German economy minister Robert Habeck hopes to have finalised key steps for the partnership, including infrastructure such as a hydrogen pipeline from Norway, by 2030. Additionally, both countries hope to agree on a strategic partnership “outside of oil and gas” too, Kern said. This would be based predominantly on wind power, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS).