The Czech Republic's oil reserves after the shutdown of the "Družba" pipeline on March 4 have been reduced by a third and will cover the republic's needs for this raw material within 60 days, the news portal Idnes reported.
Deliveries via the "Družba" pipeline, as reported by the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Lukas Vlček, have been suspended due to non-payment between the oil buyer and the Russian supplier, which occurred due to the adoption by the US of the latest package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Czech oil refineries, which received Russian raw materials, received 330,000 tons of oil on loan from the authorities - approximately a third of this raw material from the total volume in state reserves. According to the portal, the refineries have already used half of the oil received by the state.
Meanwhile, the republic plans to receive oil from mid-April via the transalpine TAL+ pipeline, the capacity of which has been significantly increased. Approximately 8 million tons of oil could be delivered to the Czech Republic via this route annually, which will fully satisfy its needs. The portal also reported that the company Orlen Unipetrol, which owns the refinery, has pledged to return 330 thousand tons of oil to the state by the end of August. Thus, after five months, the volumes of this energy resource in state reserves will be restored to the level provided for by the standard, based on the calculation of satisfying consumer needs within 90 days.
In 2024, the Czech Republic imported 42% of the total volume of oil purchased through the Russian pipeline “Druzhba“. This year, the country plans to completely abandon supplies of this type of energy raw material from the Russian Federation.