Czechs Report “Sharp” Cut in Russian Oil Supplies After Signing of US Radar Deal
Text of report by Czech privately-owned independent centre-left newspaper Pravo website, on 12 July
[Staff report: "Russia Is Cutting Oil Supplies. In Retaliation for the Radar?"]
Without giving any reason, Russia has sharply cut oil supplies to the Czech Republic. The inflow of oil through the Druzhba [Friendship] oil pipeline was declining for the whole of last week.
On Thursday [ 10 July] the Russian side then announced that the cut in July deliveries would reach a bigger scale. Out of the contractually agreed deliveries of 500,000 metric tons, less than 300,000 metric tons will probably be supplied.
The government is ascertaining the reasons for the cut in supplies and will inform [the public] about them after the weekend. According to representatives of Czech oil refineries, this [cut] is probably not Russia’s response to the signing of the treaty on stationing a US [missile defence] radar in the Brdy area but has been caused by “technical and organizational problems.” Zuzana Opletalova, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed to Pravo that the ministry had been informed that July oil deliveries from Russia would be one-third to one-half lower than contractually agreed. But lower deliveries had already been recorded in June. The Euro Online server was the first to draw attention to the present problem on Friday [ 11 July].
Substitute Supplies Through Ingolstadt
According to Opletalova, the reasons are not known for the time being. Asked whether the matter might be related to the conclusion of the Czech-American treaty on stationing a US radar in Brdy, the spokeswoman said: “We do not want to speculate. It could be a technical problem. We are communicating with Russia and will wait for what the Russians will tell us.”
In Opletalova’s opinion, such a reaction to the radar would make no sense in view of the existence of an oil pipeline leading [to the Czech Republic] from Ingolstadt, Germany. Contracts for substitute deliveries from there have already been concluded.
According to a source from the Russian Tatneft oil company, the cut in supplies has been caused by the transfer of their part to the next month for technical reasons.
Tomas Bartovsky, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry [and Trade; MPO] does not see the developments dramatically, either. “We are ascertaining the reasons right now but the situation is not untypical. There had been cuts in supplies during the summer months in previous years as well. There has been no cut in the supplies of gas,” he added. The fact that the outage only concerned oil confirms the version that this is a routine technical problem, said Bartovsky, adding that the MPO would publish the causes of the outage in the course of next week.
According to Bartovsky, the Czech Republic now has oil reserves for 95 days, which is about 916,000 metric tons. “In the event of a longer-term reduction or outages of supplies, we have contracts for increased deliveries through the IKL [Ingolstadt-Kralupy-Litvinov] oil pipeline,” he confirmed.
“This has to do with technical and organizational problems in Russia. We are tackling the situation in cooperation with the State Material Reserves authority. Our production has not been disrupted,” said Blanka Ruzickova, spokesperson for the Unipetrol petrochemical concern.
The state-owned oil transport company, MERO, does not know the reasons for the cut in supplies, either. MERO has been informed about the situation by the management of the Ceska Rafinerska corporation, which operates the two largest oil refineries in the Czech Republic – in Kralupy nad Vltavou and Litvinov.
“For the time being, we have not received an official statement from the Russian side,” Libor Lukasek, MERO’s director for strategic development, told Pravo.
“On Tuesday [ 8 July] we received information from Ceska Rafinerska that the contractual volume for July would be cut by 200,000 metric tons. The refinery has arranged for substitute supplies through the IKL oil pipeline. Moreover, it can also borrow oil from the state material reserves,” a well-informed source from the MERO company told Pravo.
Replying to a question from Pravo, even Lubomir Zaoralek (CSSD [Czech Social Democratic Party]), deputy chairman of the Chamber of Deputies and shadow minister of foreign affairs, who is one of the sharpest critics of the radar, yesterday refused to link the cut in supplies with the signing of the radar treaty.
I do not believe that there is any connection between the two. It is just a coincidence, in my opinion, Zaoralek said.
[The business daily Prague Hospodarske Noviny in Czech on 14 July carries on page 1 a 350-word report by Ondrej Soukup, entitled "There Will Be Less Russian Oil, But It Is Not Known Why," which adds: "Even after three days, Czech authorities have not received an explanation for the surprising cut in Russian oil supplies.
"'Until July, oil deliveries amounted to 16,500 metric tons a day but, since the beginning of the month, they have dropped by 3,000 metric tons a day. Over the weekend, only 10,000 tons were flowing through the Druzhba oil pipeline,' said MERO spokeswoman Jana Smejcka. The Russian side still has not stated any reasons for this, according to Smejcka.
"Czech ministers, who will consult on the outage today, promise to provide more information. 'At this moment, the key issue for us is to find out why this is happening,' said Vaclav Bartuska, the Czech envoy for energy security. According to Bartuska, there have been no outages in Poland, Hungary, or Slovakia.
"The cut in supplies became known three days after the Czech Republic signed the radar treaty with the United States. Although no one confirmed political motives, the fear has surfaced that this might be a retaliatory step, to which Russia had formerly resorted also with respect to other countries."]
Originally published by Pravo website, Prague, in Czech 12 Jul 08.
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