The Czech Republic’s imports of Russian oil have fallen to their lowest level since at least 2012, Industry Minister Jozef Sikela said, with just 40% of oil imports coming from Russia in the first half of 2024.

The Czech government wants to end the country’s use of Russian oil next year and is expanding capacity on the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL) to replace supplies coming from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline.

Imports from Russia accounted for 58% and 56% of the country’s imported oil in 2023 and 2022, respectively.

“Only 40% of the total volume of imported oil was imported from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline (in the first half),” Sikela said on X social media platform on Tuesday.

The Czech Republic, with a population of 10.9 million, had crude oil needs of 7.4 million tons last year.

The country imports oil through the Druzhba pipeline via Ukraine and through the IKL pipeline which is linked to the TAL pipeline in Germany. Druzhba flows have been a mainstay for 60 years.

The drop in Russian oil imports comes as central European neighbours Slovakia and Hungary face a halt in flows coming from Russian group Lukoil LKOH.MM after the company was put on a sanctions list in Ukraine, preventing the transit of deliveries.

Czech refiner Orlen Unipetrol, owned by Poland’s Orlen PKN.WA, has not been impacted as Lukoil is not a supplier. It says its Russian oil flows have been stable.

The countries using the Druzhba pipeline have been given exemptions from European Union sanctions on Russian oil, giving them more time to transition to alternative sources of supply.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jason Hovet, Editing by Christina Fincher)