Russian oil "flows" into Czech Republic; Germany imports goods from Moscow via India

Czech imports of Russian oil surged in the first half of this year, pipeline operator Mero said, despite the European Union (EU) country's plans to phase out supplies from Moscow.

Czech Republic increases imports of Russian oil. (Source: Reuters)

Russian oil accounted for 65.35% of the Czech Republic's total oil imports in the first six months of 2023, up sharply from 56% in all of 2022 and 49% in 2021.

Amid EU sanctions against Russia, the Czech Republic still recorded its highest oil consumption from Moscow since 2012, with crude imported via the Druzhba pipeline, Mero spokeswoman Barbora Putzova said.

Prague is exempt from EU sanctions imposed on Moscow because it cannot import about 7 million tons of oil a year to meet domestic needs.

In December 2022, the 27-member bloc banned imports of Russian oil by sea. Transporting Russian oil via pipelines remains exempt from EU sanctions for now.

The Druzhba pipeline currently carries crude oil about 4,000 km from Russia to refineries in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

* According to a report by Der Spiegel on September 12, Germany's imports of petroleum products from India increased more than 12 times in the first 7 months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

German crude oil imports increased from 37 million euros ($39 million) in the first seven months of 2022 to $484 million in the same period of 2023, Der Spiegel 's analysis of official data shows.

Berlin's crude oil imports from India are mainly gasoil used to produce diesel or heating oil, the report said, noting that New Delhi has recently been producing a significant proportion of these gasoils from Moscow's crude.

Germany, once the EU’s biggest buyer of Russian crude, has suspended pipeline imports since January 1, 2023, despite the bloc’s latest sanctions exempting pipeline deliveries to the bloc from Moscow.

Berlin's imports of crude oil from Russia have almost completely stopped amid Western sanctions against Moscow, official data from the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) shows.

However, the statistics do not take into account Russian crude oil purchased indirectly from global traders through ship-to-ship transfers.

"Some of the Russian oil purchased by India then ends up in Germany in some form," Der Spiegel quoted data claiming.

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