Polish oil giant cuts Russian crude supply to Czech refinery, breaking energy ties

CEO of Polish oil and gas company Orlen Ireneusz Fafara has announced that it will cease all purchases of Russian crude for its Czech refinery in Litvinov after June 30, marking a decisive break from Russian energy supplies.

Fafara described the move as a turning point for the region, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

"We freed Central Europe from Russian oil today," Fafara declared at a press conference, underscoring the geopolitical and energy implications of the decision.

Orlen confirmed that its contract with Russia’s Rosneft—the last agreement involving Russian oil—will not be renewed. The move severs the company’s final direct energy tie to Moscow. The decision follows the Czech Republic’s April declaration that it had become fully independent of Russian oil for the first time in its history. 

That milestone was made possible by the expansion of capacity on the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL), which supplies oil from the Italian port of Trieste via Germany to the Czech Republic through the Ingolstadt–Kralupy–Litvinov (IKL) pipeline. In the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Prague accelerated efforts to reduce its reliance on the Druzhba pipeline, which had delivered Russian oil for decades and supplied roughly half of the country’s annual imports.

With recent infrastructure upgrades completed by Czech pipeline operator MERO, the country now sources its crude oil from a diverse group of suppliers, including the North Sea, the Mediterranean, Saudi Arabia, the Americas, and Africa.

By Naila Huseynova