No Russian gas flowed to Czechia in first quarter, ministry says

No gas from Russia was imported into the Czech Republic in the first quarter of this year. The country replaced it with gas from Norway and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Netherlands and Belgium. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO) said this today in a press release, Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported. In previous years, Russian gas accounted for around 97 percent of domestic consumption.

„For the first time in the modern history of the Czech Republic, we managed entirely without gas supplies from Russia during the first quarter of the year. It is a major success. I do not know of any other country that has been able to rid itself, from one year to the next, of almost total dependence on gas imports from Russia. We all contributed to this, because reduced consumption played a crucial role,“ said Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela (STAN).

However, the minister also noted that the situation is not yet fully secure. „Ahead of this winter, Europe will have less gas available to prepare for winter without Russian supplies than it did previously, so it will still be necessary to maintain a responsible approach to gas consumption,“ he added.

According to Thursday’s data, Czech gas storage facilities hold 1.66 billion cubic metres of gas. This corresponds to around 48 percent of their total capacity. According to the ministry, this is the highest level on 20 April in at least the past eight years, since the ministry began keeping data. During the first quarter, stocks fell by 1.28 billion cubic metres of gas. The average decline over the past eight years was 1.45 billion cubic metres.

In this context, the MPO stressed the importance of savings in consumption. According to preliminary calculations, consumption from 1 January to 16 April totalled 2.89 billion cubic metres. This is 13.6 percent lower year on year and 19.7 percent lower than the average for the past three years. According to the ministry, the average daily temperature during this period was 0.2 degrees Celsius lower than in 2022 and 0.7 degrees lower than the average for the past three years.

Gas now reaches Czechia only via Germany, where gas flows primarily from Norway, along with LNG supplies from Belgium and the Netherlands.