PRAGUE: The Czech Republic will end its dependence on Russian oil by mid-2025 thanks to an expansion of the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL) from Italy, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said Tuesday.

TAL brings oil from the Italian port of Trieste to southern Germany, where it connects to the IKL pipeline taking it to the Czech Republic.

The pipeline extension will double capacity for the EU and NATO member to eight million tons when it becomes operational next year.

The country has already wean itself off Russian natural gas completely in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Work on the expansion of the TAL pipeline has started, which means we will shake off the dependence on Russian oil after 60 years,” Fiala told reporters during a visit to the state oil company Mero in Nelahozeves, north of Prague.

“We expect full launch in the first half of 2025 at the latest,” he said.

The Czech Republic gets most of its oil via the Druzhba pipeline, launched in the 1960s when the country was part of Czechoslovakia, which was controlled by the Soviet Union.

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union imposed a ban on most oil imports from Russia, but the Druzhba pipeline was exempted.

“We will cancel this exemption as soon as we can,” Fiala said.

In 2023, Russian oil accounted for 58 percent of all Czech oil imports, according to industry and trade ministry data.

TAL, in operation since 1967, is owned by a consortium of eight oil firms, including Mero and global giants Shell, Eni and ExxonMobil.