The Czech Republic has expressed its readiness to invest in the modernization of the Druzhba pipeline to ensure the supply of oil to Slovakia. This was announced by the Czech Minister of Industry, Karel Havlíček.
This is reported by Finway
Need for Investment Due to Oil Supply Disruptions
The Druzhba pipeline has been damaged due to Russian shelling, resulting in Slovakia and Hungary being without Russian oil supplied through Ukrainian territory since the end of January. Currently, Kyiv is conducting repair work on the damaged sections of the pipeline.
The Czech Republic abandoned the use of Russian oil through Druzhba last year after the expansion of the TAL pipeline, which connects Italy and Germany and integrates with other European pipelines.
Possibility of Reverse Flow and Supply Volumes
Prague had previously considered the possibility of reverse flow in the Czech section of the Druzhba pipeline to supply oil to Slovakia. According to Karel Havlíček, the Czech Republic has prepared relevant proposals for its Slovak partners.
“We have offered Slovakia the option of using reverse oil flow in the Druzhba pipeline.” In other words, we are ready to start investing in technical measures so that oil can be supplied from the Czech Republic to Slovakia,” said Havlíček after a meeting in Prague with Slovakia’s Minister of Economy, Denisa Saková.
Initial investments in the project will amount to up to 1 billion Czech crowns, equivalent to approximately 47 million US dollars. According to government estimates, in an emergency mode, tens of thousands of tons of oil could be delivered to Slovakia each month, and over the next two to three years, the capacity could increase to 2–3 million tons per year.