Polish oil refining giant Orlen will officially stop importing Russian oil for its Czech refinery “Litvínov” after June 30 of this year. This was announced by the company’s CEO Ireneusz Fąfara during a press conference, reports Baltimore Chronicle with reference to Reuters.
The final contract with Rosneft for supplying oil to Czechia has ended, thus severing Orlen’s last remaining ties with Russian energy. “Today, we have freed Central Europe from Russian oil,” Fąfara stated.
Czechia began its gradual detachment from Russian oil imports following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For decades, the country was partially dependent on the Druzhba pipeline, which supplied around 50% of its annual oil imports from Russia. However, in April, the Czech government announced that the country had become fully independent of Russian oil for the first time, thanks to the completed upgrade of the TAL pipeline infrastructure, which transports oil from western ports.
A key role in this transition was played by Czech pipeline operator MERO, which finalized the modernization of the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL) at the end of last year. This pipeline allows oil to flow from tankers in the Italian port of Trieste through Germany and into Czechia via the Ingolstadt-Kralupy-Litvínov (IKL) pipeline.
Currently, Orlen reports that its Czech refineries receive crude oil from various global regions, including the North Sea, the Mediterranean, Saudi Arabia, South and North America, and Africa.
Earlier we wrote that Hungary blocks EU Council statement on Russian gas and oil ban.