ByTsvetana Paraskova– Apr 17, 2025, 8:30 AM CDT
The Czech Republic has ended its 60-year-long dependence on Russian oil supply after capacity upgrades on a pipeline from the west.
For the first time ever, the Czech Republic is now independent from Russian oil pipeline deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline.
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The Druzhba pipeline carries Russian crude to Central Europe. The pipeline is a key artery of oil supply from Russia to Europe, with two branches – a northern one via Belarus that supplies Belarus, Poland, Germany, Latvia, and Lithuania, and a southern one passing through Ukraine and sending oil to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Croatia.
Flows through the Druzhba pipeline were exempted from the EU embargo on imports of Russian crude oil by sea that came into effect on December 5, 2022. The EU has exempted pipeline oil flows to landlocked EU member states from the ban.
The Czech Republic, however, decided in 2022 to work to free itself of Russian oil supply and began a project to expand the capacity of the Trans Alpine (TAL) pipeline in a project called TAL PLUS. The plan is to boost oil supply to the Czech Republic from Italy.
The upgrade of the TAL pipeline and the project to link the Italian port of Trieste with central Europe have made it possible for the Czech Republic to stop relying on Russia for its oil supply.
The first batch of increased volumes from the west has reached the central oil depot in the country, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Thursday.
“For the first time in history, the Czech Republic is completely supplied by non-Russian oil, and fully supplied through western routes,” Fiala was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Czech pipeline operator MERO will now transport the crude to Orlen Unipetrol for processing at the Litvinov refinery, one of the country’s two processing facilities, MERO chief executive Jaroslav Pantucek said today.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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