Czech Refinery Renews Deal for Russian Oil Supply

Czech refiner Ceska Rafinerska said on Wednesday it had signed a further contract with Slovak pipeline company Transpetrol for the shipment of Russian oil to its Litvinov refinery for the years 2015 and 2016.

The company said fees were unchanged from the present contract. Volumes, running along the Druzhba pipeline which goes through Slovakia to the Czech Republic, should reach up to 4 million tonnes each year.

"The new contract, concluded for the period of two years, definitely contributes to the crude oil supply safety in the Czech Republic," Ceska Rafinerska Chief Executive Anna Wydrzyska said in a statement.

Czech downstream oil group Unipetrol, part of Poland's PKN Orlen, is the majority owner of Ceska Rafinerska with a 67.6 percent stake. Italy's Eni holds the remaining shares.

Transpetrol is fully owned by the Slovak state.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet, editing by William Hardy)