Oil is still not flowing to Czechia through the Russian Druzhba pipeline, Orlen Unipetrol tells CTK

Oil is still not flowing to Czechia through the Russian Druzhba pipeline. Orlen Unipetrol spokesperson Pavel Kaidl told CTK today shortly before 10:00. Supplies were interrupted on Wednesday morning, and authorities do not yet know why. Czechia is now sourcing oil only via the western route.

Until now, oil has flowed to Czechia from two main sources. One is the Druzhba pipeline, which carries oil from Russia. It accounted for 58 percent of supplies last year. The rest of the oil comes through the German IKL pipeline, which connects to the Italian TAL pipeline.

Oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline across Russian territory are proceeding normally, the press office of Transneft, Russia’s state-owned pipeline monopoly, said on Wednesday afternoon. It was responding to a report by Novinky that oil had stopped flowing to the Czech Republic through Druzhba.

The restriction on supplies through the Druzhba pipeline is now in its second day. Authorities say, however, that there is no risk of an oil shortage on the market. On Wednesday, the government decided that if the supply restriction lasts longer, the state will lend 330.000 tonnes of oil from its emergency reserves to the Orlen Unipetrol refinery company, enough for more than a month of refinery operations. The loan is intended to ensure sufficient oil supplies on the domestic market. Orlen Unipetrol would begin drawing on the loan next week, Kaidl said. The company’s own stocks will be sufficient until then.

Authorities do not yet know why supplies were halted. Industry and Trade Minister Lukáš Vlček (STAN) noted on Wednesday that Czechia had faced a similar situation before, when supplies through the Druzhba pipeline were halted in 2019 because of oil contamination. Oil did not flow through Druzhba for two months then.

The state plans to increase supplies through the TAL pipeline in the future. Mero began work on expanding it last year. The project, costing approximately 1.6 billion koruna, is expected to increase capacity for Czechia by four million tonnes of oil a year from next year, enabling up to eight million tonnes a year to be delivered to the country through the pipeline. Under the state’s current plans, Czechia could therefore completely wean itself off Russian oil. Physical work is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Testing and finishing work will follow, and Mero expects full supplies through the expanded pipeline by the middle of next year.

The TAL pipeline begins in Trieste, where oil is imported from multiple countries and continents. The largest share comes from areas around the Caspian and Black seas, the United States and Africa.