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29 October 2024
The Czech Republic’s increasing reliance on discounted Russian oil, despite EU sanctions, reveals the complex intersection of energy security, economic incentives and geopolitical tensions as the country continues to funnel millions to Russia while struggling to wean itself off these imports.
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Czech Republic has spent more on purchasing Russian oil and gas than it has contributed to Ukraine in war aid. This is according to a joint report by the Finland-based NGO Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and the Bulgarian think tank Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD). The report was presented at the Forum 2000 international conference on Monday by its lead author, analyst Isaac Levi.
CREA regularly monitors Russian fossil fuel supplies to the EU. It notes that Czech refineries, owned by the Polish state-owned Orlen, could have switched to non-Russian oil long ago. However, the Czech Republic has underutilized the TAL pipeline, which links the Italian port of Trieste to Central Europe and is being upgraded precisely because of the shutdown of Russian supplies through the Druzhba pipeline. Orlen was thus able to profit from cheaper Russian oil at the expense of Ukraine and Czech consumers.
Orlen’s subsidiary, Orlen Unipetrol, did not pass on the savings from selling cheaper Russian oil to consumers. Last year, the Czech Republic’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels even rose to 60%, according to Isaac Levi in the following interview originally published in Czech on Hospodářské noviny.
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