Updated,16 November 2022: The supplies of Russian crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline from Ukraine to Slovakia were already resumed on November 16, 2022 in the afternoon.
The delivery of crude oil supplied from Russia via the Druzhba Pipeline has been temporarily suspended on the way to Slovakia due to technical reasons as a result of a power outage in the territory of Ukraine. The pumping to the Czech Republic has not yet been interrupted as there is sufficient supply in Slovakia available as needed.
“At the moment we are intensively monitoring the development of the solution to the situation. We are in touch, on a 24/7 basis, with Transpetrol – the operator of the Slovak part of the Druzhba Pipeline – as well as ORLEN Unipetrol, our customer and the owner of the domestic refineries,” said Jaroslav Pantůček, Chairman of the Board and CEO of MERO ČR. If the supply of Russian crude oil via the Druzhba Pipeline to the Czech Republic becomes interrupted, the smooth operation of domestic refineries will not be affected in any way. In case of need, the Litvínov refinery can be supplied from operational crude oil reserves located at the Central Crude Oil Tank Site in Nelahozeves and from the state emergency reserves; the volume is sufficient until the transport is resumed via the Druzhba Pipeline. The IKL Pipeline and the connecting TAL Pipeline can still be used to supply the refineries in the Czech Republic; the latter has currently spare transport capacity and transporting via this pipeline runs smoothly in a standard manner. “Thanks to this diversity, the Czech Republic has an advantage over other countries that depend solely on the Druzhba Pipeline,” added Jaroslav Pantůček.
