The Czech Republic will be completely independent from Russian oil supplies from 2025. MERO CR is fulfilling an important objective in the area of energy security of the Czech Republic and is working on the TAL-PLUS project. The project envisages the expansion of the TAL pipeline capacity. Thanks to the increase in transport capacity, the Czech Republic will receive an additional 4 million tonnes of crude oil per year from the Italian port of Trieste, i.e. via the western route of the TAL and IKL pipelines. This will fully replace Russian crude oil supplies that flow to the Czech Republic via the Druzhba pipeline.
Jaroslav Pantůček, CEO and CFO of MERO ČR
“After almost 60 years, we are changing the energy map of the Czech Republic and from 2025 we will not need oil from Russia, which is transported to the Czech Republic via the Druzhba pipeline. We will fully replace it with oil from the Italian port of Trieste.
MERO is constantly working to strengthen the Czech Republic’s energy security and is intensively looking for ways to make the country oil independent from Russian oil. This May, MERO succeeded in one of the biggest energy deals in recent years. After a year of very difficult negotiations, MERO persuaded the other co-owners of the TAL pipeline from the position of a small shareholder and managed to negotiate the TAL-PLUS project – an expansion of the capacity to transport crude oil from the west, via the TAL and IKL pipelines. The project, worth approximately CZK 1.6 billion, will be financed by MERO itself, with no impact on the state budget. TAL-PLUS is a crucial and strategic project that will make our country completely independent from Russian oil from Druzhba as of 2025. The TAL-PLUS project has strengthened not only MERO’s position, but especially that of the Czech Republic on the European energy market.”
