The Czech Republic is on course to end its 60-year dependence on Russian crude imports next year as major technical upgrades to the Transalpine Oil Pipeline (TAL) near completion. Known as TAL-PLUS, the project will double the country’s import capacity from the west and allow it to fully meet annual oil demand of around 8mn tonnes (160,000 barrels per day). It will mark the end of Russian crude deliveries to the EU member state via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline system, one of the world’s longest oil corridors.