The country reduced its Russian gas dependency from 97% to 3-4% in eight months, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced on Tuesday.
The country replaced its Russian gas with gas imports from Norway and overseas LNG imports, which are distributed to the country through an LNG terminal in the Netherlands.
“We were almost 100% dependent on Russian gas and today the situation is completely different,” Fiala said. “We were able to get rid of our dependence on Russia very quickly,” he emphasised, adding that Czech gas storages have reached 74% capacity.
According to Fiala, one of the most important steps for the country was the acquisition of a share in the LNG terminal in the Netherlands.
Moreover, last year’s gas consumption in the Czech Republic fell by 19% year-on-year.
Fiala also praised decisions made at the EU level which helped with the stabilisation of energy prices, such as the price cap on gas.
“We have convinced the market that we can handle the winter and that is why energy prices are falling,” Fiala said after the meeting with Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela.
Síkela also emphasised that Czechia is cutting its dependence on Russian nuclear fuel which was previously used in both nuclear power plants located in the country. When it comes to crude oil, half of the Czech consumption is still coming to the country through the Druzhba pipeline which was exempted from EU sanctions.
(Aneta Zachová | EURACTIV.cz)
Source: euractiv.com
