– This is indeed a historical moment, I am not overreacting. due to the fact that after about 60 years our dependence on Russia ended, and this is, I think, crucial and truly good news," said Petr Fiala during Thursday (17.04.20125) a press conference in Nelahozeves, 25 kilometres northwest of Prague. “For the first time in history, the Czech Republic is full supplied with non-Russian oil and full supplied with this western route,” explained the head of the Czech government.
In fact, Russian oil has not been flowing to the Czech Republic since 4 March. And although the reasons for this were not explained, The Czechs accepted this message with the stoic calm – most likely due to the fact that the day before they were notified of the completion of the project, which would enable them to completely replace Russian supplies.
Russia's dependence on the threat
The Czech Prime Minister stressed in Nelahozevsi that in this way the energy safety of his country, for which dependence on Russian oil posed a threat, is increasing. Fiala recalled that his cabinet immediately after the takeover of power began a "great energy modernisation", in order to supply affordable energy prices, but besides to strengthen the country's energy safety that "was neglected in the past".
This was clearly pointed out by Andrej Babish – his predecessor, and at the same time the main rival in the upcoming parliamentary elections, whose government had abandoned the steps taken in this direction by earlier teams.
In November 2022, a fewer months after the outbreak of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Petra Fiali's cabinet decided to finance the expansion of the TAL (Transalpine Pipeline) pipeline from Trieste in Italy. The task named TAL-PLUS cost 1.6 billion Czech kronor (about €65 million) and allowed to increase the amount of oil transported not by building a fresh strand of oil, but by installing new, more efficient pumps on it that let it to be sent faster.
Where all Czech oil trains run
Since the conclusion of the TAL-PLUS task The Czechs will be able to send up to 8 million tonnes of oil by the IKL pipeline, which, as Prime Minister Fiala assured, will full cover the needs of Czech refineries. To date, they have half-Russian and half non-Russian oil supplied by Germany.
To tell the countrymen this "good news", the head of the Czech government went with Finance Minister Zbyńek Stanjura to Nelahozevsi, due to the fact that there is simply a central oil tank owned by the state-owned MERO ČR (this is short for the name Mezinárodní rovody, or global oil pipelines). And this is where both Czech oil pipes lead to: the confederate thread "Friends" from Russia and the Czech Republic connecting the IKL pipeline (Ingolstadt-Kralupy nad Vltavou-Litvínov). Both belong to the company.
From the tank in Nelahozevsi oil is in turn supplied to both Czech refineries. 1 is located in the Kralupach nad Vltava, located 5 kilometres further south, the another in the 60 kilometres west of Litvínov. Both are wholly owned by Orlen Unipetrol, which has been owned by the Polish oil company for 20 years.
A careful decision from 30 years ago
The first oil supplies in the fresh extended TAL oil government reached the Czech Republic on Wednesday evening. According to the announcement of Prime Minister Fiala, on Thursday afternoon, they were to decision further to the refinery in Litvínov, which had so far only worked on dense oil from Russia.
The Thursday ceremony in Nelahozevsi would most likely not have been, had it not been for very cautious – as it turned out – the decision of Václav Klaus' first government from 30 years ago to join the Czech refineries into the German oil pipeline network. And then the main argument was to be independent of supplies from the east. The construction of the IKL began on 1 September 1994, and as early as 15 December 1995 it was first filled with oil.
The nearly 350 km long oil pipeline would indeed lead from Ingolstadt through Kralupy to Litvinov. But then the task was changed. On the German side, the tube exits the oil tank in Vohburg over the Danube, which is supplied by the TAL, in the Czech Republic it ends in Nelahozevsi. However, the first name was preserved.
What about "Friend"?
Resigning Russian oil means something needs to be done about the tube it was transported. It is the confederate branch of the oil pipeline "Friendship" ("The Best") which begins in Almietsevsk in Tatarstan in the southeast of the European part of Russia. From there, it leads to Samaria, little than 300 kilometres away, where it connects to pipes from Ural, Siberia, and Kazakhstan and leads further to Belarus. There it branches into the northern branch of "Friendship 1" leading through Płock to Schwedt nad Oder, and from there to Rostock and Leuna, and to Ukraine's confederate branch of "Friendship 2". In turn, just outside the Ukrainian-Slovak border it is divided into 2 further branches: 1 in Hungary, the another in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In total, all these pipes are almost 9,000 kilometres long.
Will the Czech part of "Friendship" proceed to be used, "it depends on our client who buys oil and to whom we send it, that is, from Orlen Unipetrol," explained during the Thursday press conference in Nelahozevsi the CEO of MERO ČR Jaroslav Pantůczek. According to him, there are respective scenarios for what to do with it. – This will be a large strategical task that will appear in the coming days or weeks. We are presently waiting for a survey to be prepared, which will bring us about 4 or 5 options of use," he said.
