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Czech Republic signs agreement/ Ends dependence on Russian oil

2023-05-23 18:24:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Czech Republic signs agreement/ Ends dependence on Russian oil

Czech state energy company Mero announced on May 23 that it has signed an agreement to end the country's dependence on Russian oil, more than a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

Mero will finance with 73 million dollars the expansion of the Transalpine oil pipeline (TAL) that supplies oil to Central Europe through the Italian port of Trieste.

The capacity of the Czech Republic in TAL, with this agreement, will be doubled and will reach up to 8 million tons of oil per year, starting from 2025.

"This agreement is our future, it will separate us from Russia after 60 long years, and it will help us achieve independence, freedom and sovereignty in energy supplies," said Mero chief executive Jaroslav Pantucek.

The Czech Republic, a member state of the European Union, with a population of 10.5 million inhabitants, earlier this year cut off supplies of Russian gas.

Two refineries in the Czech Republic last year received 7.4 million tons of oil, and 56 percent of the oil came from Russia through the Druzhba pipeline.

The EU in May last year imposed bans on most Russian oil imports because of Moscow's war on Ukraine. However, the Druzhba pipeline was not affected by the sanctions.

The Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, said that the exclusion of this pipeline from the sanctions gave Prague time to negotiate the agreement with TAL.

He praised the new agreement, which he called "a big step for our energy independence from Russia."

Initiated in 1967, the TAL pipeline is owned by a consortium of eight oil companies, including Shell, EMI and ExxonMobile.

TAL transports oil from Italy to the south of Germany, from where the oil is then sent to the Czech Republic and Austria through other pipelines./REL





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