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The Czech Republic will phase out Russian oil imports by July 2025, Deputy chairman of the statement pipeline company MERO suggested on Friday. The move is part of the country’s energy diversification journey, although it hinges on the completion of a $60 million upgrade to the Trans Alpine (TAL) pipeline.
The upgrade will double TAL’s capacity to 8 million tonnes per year, enabling increased shipments of alternative crude blends from Latin America, Saudi Arabia, and the North Sea–making the shift away from Russian oil simpler.
The move is also part of a broader EU effort to reduce dependency on Russian energy following the invasion of Ukraine. While the Czech Republic has historically relied on Russian crude for half its oil needs, the country has been strategically pivoting westward since 1995, when it constructed the IKL pipeline linking TAL to its refineries. However, one refinery, owned by Poland’s Orlen SA, has continued to process Russian oil due to exemptions from EU sanctions.
This pivot isn’t without its challenges. Private sector investments will be critical to infrastructure expansion, especially as the government has ceased funding such projects. Despite this, the Druzhba pipeline, a legacy of Russian imports, will remain as a backup and could even be repurposed for alternative crude supplies from Ukraine or Kazakhstan.
The Czech Republic’s approach exemplifies a pragmatic balance between geopolitical necessity and market-driven solutions, with hopes of achieving both energy security and a diversified supply chain.
In 2022, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that the Czech Republic’s dependence on Russia for oil and diesel is one of the country’s “greatest security risks,” adding that it needed a complete overhaul. As of last year, the Czech Republic got 50% of its crude oil and 90% of its gas from Russia.
