United Kingdom
imports and exportsExports its own North Sea crude (Forties, Brent) and imports the grades its refineries need.
Answer
The United Kingdom imports about 809 thousand barrels of crude a day. The largest suppliers are Norway (45%), USA (31%) and Libya (11%).
Data: 2025 annual averages
Key figures
- Crude oil imports, barrels per day
- 809 thousand
- Largest supplier
- Norway · 45%
- Crude oil exports, barrels per day
- 489 thousand
- Largest buyer
- Germany · 34%
Where does the United Kingdom get its oil from?
| Supplier | share | thousand b/d |
|---|---|---|
| Norway | 45% | 380 |
| USA | 31% | 262 |
| Libya | 11% | 90 |
| Algeria | 5% | 46 |
| Kazakhstan | 4% | 38 |
| Nigeria | 4% | 32 |
UN Comtrade, JODI-Oil · 2025
Where does the United Kingdom's oil go?
The United Kingdom exports about 489 thousand barrels of crude a day. The largest buyers are Germany (34%), Netherlands (23%) and USA (12%).
| Buyer | share | thousand b/d |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 34% | 174 |
| Netherlands | 23% | 118 |
| USA | 12% | 59 |
| Belgium | 10% | 50 |
| Sweden | 8% | 38 |
| Lithuania | 5% | 27 |
| Poland | 4% | 21 |
| Denmark | 2% | 11 |
| Finland | 1% | 7 |
UN Comtrade, JODI-Oil · 2025
Which chokepoints does the United Kingdom's oil pass through?
The main maritime chokepoints on the way are Turkish Straits (4% of imports).
- Turkish Straits4% of imports · 38
4% of imports passes through Turkish Straits, but these are calm waters – the routes avoid dangerous straits.
UN Comtrade · 2025
How much oil does the United Kingdom produce, import and export?
Produces 599 thousand barrels a day but uses 1.4 million – so it has to import (809 thousand). At the same time it sells 489 thousand abroad, because its refineries need different grades of crude than the country produces.
JODI-Oil · 2025
United Kingdom: how did the 2026 oil crisis affect supplies and prices?
- February 28, 2026Iran closes the Strait of HormuzUnited Kingdom: supplies keep flowing – yet the price still rises, because oil has one world priceWikipedia: 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis
- March 11, 2026IEA countries release 400 million barrels from emergency stocksIEA, 11 Mar 2026
- September 11, 2026Drones hit Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline – the main route around HormuzCNBC, 14 Sept 2026
- September 28, 2026The East-West pipeline runs again, at lower capacitywnp.pl, 28 Sept 2026
Effect on supplies: model of oil routes (2025 flows), stranded = no sea route left on that day.
Main ports: Hound Point · Immingham
Sources
- UN Comtrade – crude oil imports by country of origin (HS 2709), as reported by the importing country · 2025
- JODI-Oil – national crude oil production, imports and exports · 2025
- U.S. EIA – crude oil and petroleum products passing through maritime chokepoints · 2023
Related questions
- Where does Norway's oil go?
- Where does the USA's oil go?
- Where does Libya's oil go?
- Where does Germany get its oil from?
- Where does the Netherlands get its oil from?
- Where does the USA get its oil from?
- Which countries depend on the Turkish Straits?
- Which countries import the most crude oil?
- Which countries depend most on a single oil supplier?
- Where does the EU get its crude oil?
Download the data
CSV and JSON, CC BY 4.0 – credit “chokepoints.io” with a link. Volumes in thousand barrels per day, 2025 annual averages.
Countries (CSV)Trade routes (CSV)Chokepoints (CSV)Everything (JSON)DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23267750 (Zenodo)