The Czech Republic has announced that it plans to completely eliminate Russian oil from Polish refineries on its territory

The Czech Republic has announced that it plans to completely eliminate Russian oil from Polish refineries on its territory


The Czech government aims to eliminate any dependence on Russian oil in the coming years, and thus put an end to the exemption from the European Union’s ban on imports from the Russian Federation, introduced last year.

This was stated by Prime Minister Petr Fiala, reports “European Truth” with reference to Reuters.

Fiala said the Czech Republic would be able to meet its oil needs with supplies via the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL) from 2025 after the country signed an agreement to increase the pipeline’s capacity.

Czech refineries are owned by Polish state-owned oil refinery PKN Orlen, which said in April it had terminated a contract to supply Russian oil to its Polish refineries.

Polish government officials and PKN Orlen met Tuesday in Prague with representatives of the Czech Ministry of Industry and said they will work to exclude Russian oil from PKN’s refineries in the Czech Republic.

Speaking separately outside Prague at the strategic oil storage facility, Fiala said that the newly signed agreement between the state operator of the MERO oil pipeline and the pipeline company TAL to increase the carrying capacity of the TAL oil pipeline to 4 million tons will allow the Czech Republic to get rid of its dependence on Russia from 2025.

Last year, the Czech Republic received approval from TAL shareholders to upgrade this gas pipeline, which runs from Italy to Germany and connects with the IKL pipeline from Germany to the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic needs about 7-8 million tons of oil per year, which is roughly divided between supplies coming through TAL and the Druzhba oil pipeline from Russia.

The EU banned deliveries of Russian oil from December 2022, but made an exception for deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline to oil refineries in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

“Our common goal is to diversify crude oil supplies as soon as possible in order to completely abandon Russian oil, as we have already done in Poland,” Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin said together with PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obaitek after a meeting with the Czech Industry Minister Joseph Sikela.

We will remind, despite the EU sanctions, Russian oil continues to arrive in Europe through intermediaries in third countries, especially from India.



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