Oil Supplies To Czech Republic Via Druzhba Pipeline Resume

(MENAFN- IANS) Prague, Dec 6 (IANS) crude oil deliveries from Russia's Druzhba pipeline to the Czech Republic resumed on Friday after two days of interruption, according to Czech refiner Orlen Unipetrol.

"Oil supplies were restored this morning and oil is flowing again through the Druzhba pipeline to the Czech Republic," Mariusz Wnuk, CEO of the Orlen Unipetrol Group, said on social media platform X.

Oil via the Druzhba pipeline stopped flowing into the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Announcing the disruption, Czech industry and Trade Minister Lukas Vlcek said then that there was no risk of an oil shortage for households and businesses, as steady supplies continue via the Italian TAL pipeline.

Vlcek also announced later on Wednesday that the state would lend Orlen Unipetrol 330,000 tonnes of crude oil from state reserves if a prolonged disruption occurs, Xinhua news agency reported.

The reasons for the halt in supplies were not yet clear.

Czech state-run oil pipeline operator Mero, which has been investigating the cause of the interruption, also confirmed in a statement that the crude oil supplies have been resumed but did not reveal the investigation outcome.

"Oil started flowing to us again through Druzhba. The causes of the outage are still being investigated," Vlcek said Friday on X.

The European Union imposed sanctions in 2022 on Russian oil imports in response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary received temporary exemptions to allow time for securing alternative crude sources.

Currently, the Czech Republic relies on two main sources of crude oil. The Druzhba pipeline, transporting oil from Russia, accounted for 58 percent of the country's supply last year, according to the Czech News Agency. The remaining supply is delivered through the German IKL pipeline, which connects to the Italian TAL pipeline.

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