Czech Republic and Slovakia ask Brussels to allow Russian oil shipments to continue - Tokarev

MOSCOW. Dec 20 (Interfax) - The Czech Republic and Slovakia still want to receive Russian oil and have addressed the European Union on this issue.

"Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia have now turned to Brussels with a request to maintain their volumes of Russian oil, because they really have no access to the sea, and there is way for them to receive oil from other sources," Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev said in an interview with Rossiya-24.

"The Czechs have some [access to oil] from Trieste through another oil pipeline, but in general they simply cannot exist without our oil," he said.

Tokarev said that 4.2 million tonnes were supplied to the Czech Republic via the pipeline system in 2022 (124% compared to 2021), and this year it will be 4.2 million tonnes again. Slovakia received 5.25 million tonnes in 2022 (the same as in 2021), with a 10% decrease this year. Hungary imported 5 million tonnes in 2022 (144% versus 2021), and this year's volume is 98% of the 2022 number. "So all these volumes have been preserved, and they will look like this in 2023. And, of course, the applications [from Czech Republic and Slovakia] next year will be approximately the same," Tokarev said.

He said, "In January 2024, the permit for the use of Russian oil expires, and hence this initiative from the Czechs and Slovaks for next year's supplies."

The CEO of Transneft said that the company is ready to supply these oil volumes if there are no problems from Ukraine. "Because during this year they raised tariffs twice, and quite significantly. This, of course, affects the price of oil supplied later on," he said.