Czech Republic to end reliance on Russian oil by next year

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced on Tuesday that by mid-next year at the latest, his country will become independent from Russian oil supplies. This timeline will depend on the completion of the expansion of the TAL pipeline, which runs from the Adriatic Sea through the Alps to Germany, he added.

According to Fiala, the work on the modernization of the pipeline is progressing at full speed. After 60 years of receiving oil from the Druzhba pipeline, the Czech Republic will no longer depend on this resource from Russia. Fiala assured that as soon as it is possible, he will announce the Czech Republic's withdrawal from the current exemption from the EU embargo on Russian oil.

After the expansion, and especially after increasing the pumping station's capacity, the TAL pipeline is expected to deliver an additional 4 million tons (4.4 million US tons) of oil annually to the Czech Republic. This will cover the demand for PKN Orlen refineries in Litvinov and Kralupy nad Vltavou.

Last year, the Czech Republic imported 7.4 million tons (8.2 million US tons) of crude oil, with about 58% coming from the Druzhba pipeline. Germany supplied the remaining oil through the IKL pipeline.

According to an Interfax report, oil export revenues in Russia have fallen by 20%. This decrease was partly due to Ukrainian military attacks on refineries. This led to an increase in oil exports while reducing the petroleum product supply. Furthermore, maintenance works at Russian refineries also influenced the decrease in supplies.

CNN notes that Ukrainian attacks on refineries are possible thanks to advanced drones. Some use artificial intelligence (AI), making them fully autonomous and able to operate without communication with the command during flight. This makes them reliable, conveyed an anonymous source from the Ukrainian drone development program.