Czech Republic increases imports of Russian oil to the highest level since 2012

The Czech Republic is increasing its imports of Russian oil, and in the first half of this year, the share of this oil coming through the Russian Druzhba pipeline amounted to about 65%. This is up from 56% last year.

This was reported by Barbora Putzova, a spokeswoman for the state-owned company Mero. This trend indicates that Czech refineries are choosing Russian oil because of the restrictions on transit through Ukraine and the rise in prices for other types of oil.

The European Union has had a ban on imports of Russian oil since last year, but the Czech Republic has been exempted from these sanctions to import Russian oil at reduced prices compared to Brent crude.

The Czech Republic imports Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline from Russia via Ukraine and Slovakia, as well as through the IKL pipeline, which connects to the TAL pipeline in Germany.

Currently, there are plans to expand the capacity of the TAL pipeline as part of the TAL-PLUS project, which is due to be completed in early 2025. This will allow the Czech Republic to continue importing Russian oil until it finds an alternative.

In 2023, the Czech Republic imported 25 billion CZK worth of oil, of which seven billion CZK were identified as excessive payments to the Russian budget.

In total, in 2022, the Druzhba and TAL pipelines delivered 7.4 million tons of oil to the Czech Republic, up 7% year-on-year.

Mero is the owner and operator of the Czech part of the Druzhba pipeline and the IKL pipeline, as well as the sole carrier of crude oil to the Czech Republic.

Although the Czech Republic no longer imports gas from Russia due to EU anti-Russian sanctions, it meets its gas needs from other sources, such as Norwegian gas and liquefied natural gas from terminals in the Netherlands and Belgium.