The Czech Republic is increasing the capacity of its strategic crude oil reserve facilities by 19% to hold 1.55 million cubic meters of oil, or enough to last 110 days, the Administration of State Material Reserves, or SSHR, said.
The change, thanks to two new storage tanks, lifts the country's crude oil reserves capacity from the previous maximum storage level of 90 days worth of crude.
On Wednesday, SSHR put one of its two new 125,000 cubic meter tanks into operation and started filling it with crude oil transported from Russia via the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline.
The first tank is to be filled by the end of this year and the second tank will be filled in the first half of next year, SSHR said.
The increase in oil storage capacity follows a decrease in oil deliveries to the Czech Republic from Russia, which began this summer shortly after the Czech Republic agreed to host a radar base for a U.S. missile defense system.