Oil flow to Czech Republic from Russia through Druzhba interrupted

The flow of oil from Russia to the Czech Republic via the Druzhba pipeline was interrupted on Wednesday, Czech authorities confirmed.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the problem.

“The Czech refiners are well prepared for such a situation and we have a robust system of state reserves,” Czech Industry and Trade Minister Lukas Vlcek said.

Mero, the state company that operates the pipeline, said it was monitoring the situation, adding that the country’s oil supplies were not threatened by the development.

The Czech Republic has 90 days of oil reserves, and the TAL and the IKL pipelines are operating as usual, Mero said.

Orlen Unipetrol refiner said its operations had not been affected.

Along with Hungary and Slovakia, the Czech Republic received an exemption from the EU following the bloc’s decision to ban imported Russian pipeline oil in 2022 as a result of Vladimir Putin’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.

The three countries successfully argued that they needed time to change their energy systems, which were, at the start of the war in Ukraine, overly reliant on Russian oil.

The EU exemption for the Czech Republic to receive Russian oil ends on Thursday, and it is understood that the Czech government will not seek to extend it.

Over the past few years, Prague has invested to double the capacity of its Transalpine pipeline to eight million metric tonnes a year. The TAL pipeline, which reaches the Czech Republic as the IKL pipeline, delivers oil from a marine terminal in Trieste.

The Czech Republic has been a staunch ally of Kyiv. “Peace and security across Europe hinge on stopping Russian aggression,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said earlier this year.