The import of Russian gas into the Czech Republic has sharply increased. It already accounts for more than 60% of supplies — Novinky. cz.

In 2023, the Czech Republic managed to radically reduce gas imports from Russia compared to 2022, to 2% of total imports in the first ten months. However, the situation has changed rapidly since November.

In early December, Russian gas imports to the Czech Republic resumed through the Lanžhot station on the border with Slovakia.

In January, imports of Russian gas reached about 62% of total imports, according to data from NET4GAS and the Czech Statistical Office (CSO).

"The data for November and December are shocking, when the share of Russian gas in total imports rose sharply to 26% and 58%, respectively," says Jiří Pour, an economist at UniCredit Bank.

An informed source told journalists that such a rapid increase could be due to the fact that the gas was stored in Ukrainian storage facilities and is now being imported to the Czech Republic.

However, Pour does not believe that the transit or resale of Russian gas to other countries could have changed the statistics this much.

"Firstly, because the vast majority of imported gas goes to the Czech Republic. Moreover, NET4GAS data for January show that the tendency of gas imports from Russia is not only maintained but also intensified.

This means that Czech imports of natural gas, which improved Russia's balance of payments by almost 8 billion Czech crowns ($344 million) in the last quarter of last year, added an estimated 3 billion Czech crowns ($129 million) to this amount in January," the economist added.

Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela confirmed the growth of imports from October 2023.