Czechs expect oil halt, say have reserves to pump

...added it would keep pumping its own reserves from Slovakia for about a week. Russia said on Monday it had halted oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline to Belarus, accusing its neighbour of stealing from the link amid an escalating dispute between the two countries over energy prices.

The pipeline system forks in Belarus, bringing oil to Poland and Germany through its northern branch and to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary through its southern spur.

"We have unofficial information that supplies from Ukraine to Slovakia will stop at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) tonight," MERO Chief Executive Jaroslav Pantucek told Reuters.

"We have reserves in Slovakia that we expect we will be able to pump from for roughly a week," he added.

These reserves are not part of the Czech Republic's strategic oil stocks, which cover more than 90 days of the central European country's needs.

The Czechs use mostly Russian oil but also pump oil from the IKL pipeline from Ingolstadt in Germany, which connects to the Italian port of Trieste.

The main Czech processor is Ceska Rafinerska, majority-owned by Unipetrol . Shell , ConocoPhillips and ENI hold minority stakes in the refiner.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]