Russian gas accounts for 3.8% of supplies to Czechia so far this year, rising since October

Gas flowing into Czechia via Slovakia, apparently from Russia, accounted for 3.8 percent of total supplies to the country from January to the end of November. It did not flow into Czechia for most of the year, but supplies began to rise in October. Even so, the share of gas from Russia remains the lowest in the Czech Republic’s modern history. Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela (STAN) said this today on the social network X. Gas storage facilities are currently 89 percent full, more than at the same time in previous years.

More than seven billion cubic metres of gas have flowed into Czechia in the first 11 months of the year. The largest share is imported via Germany, where most of the gas comes from Norway, along with liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Netherlands. For almost three-quarters of the year, no gas from Russia flowed into the Czech Republic, but this changed in autumn, when supplies via Slovakia began to gradually increase.

„Higher imports are now the result of market conditions, not a necessity to import it. Traders stored gas in the summer and are now selling it more cheaply,“ Síkela said, commenting on the increase in Russian gas imports in recent weeks.

„There is no point in questioning that we have freed ourselves from dependence on Russian gas,“ the minister noted.

Síkela also recalled that Czech gas storage facilities held more than three billion cubic metres of gas as of today. They are therefore 89 percent full. „Gas reserves are still significantly higher than in previous years. They even rose slightly over the Christmas holidays thanks to the warm weather,“ the minister added.

Russian oil accounts for a significantly larger share of supplies. According to statistics for the first half of this year, oil imported via the Russian Druzhba pipeline accounted for around 65 percent. Last year, the share was around 56 percent, and it was even lower in previous years. The share of Russian oil is therefore the highest since at least 2012.

State-owned company Mero is currently preparing to expand the TAL pipeline from Trieste, Italy. The project, costing approximately 1.6 billion crowns, is expected to increase capacity for Czechia by four million tonnes of oil per year from 2025, allowing up to eight million tonnes to be delivered to the country annually by pipeline. This should make the Czech Republic independent of Russian oil.