A halt in oil supplies by Russia to the Czech Republic on Tuesday via the Druzhba pipeline is due to payment issues between Czech refineries' Polish owner and Russian suppliers, the Czech industry minister was cited as saying.
The Czech Republic has planned to end its long-held oil ties Russia around the middle of this year, and it was initially unclear why flows were halted on Tuesday.
Russia's oil pipeline operator Transneft did not respond to a request for comment.
Russia had earlier briefly stopped supplies via the pipeline in December in a dispute over payments.
The disruption this week forced refiner Unipetrol, owned by Poland's Orlen (PKN.WA), to ask to tap state reserves.
Refinery operations have remained at full capacity, and Industry Minister Lukas Vlcek said on Tuesday in a statement that there was no risk of shortages.
Payment issues caused the halt in supplies, he told Czech Television late on Tuesday.
"I have information that there are some payments between Orlen and Russian suppliers not going through," he said.
Orlen did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The company said on Tuesday it operated in accordance with sanctions laws and regulations, but did not comment on why oil supplies were halted.
Vlcek has said the country could switch to the TAL pipeline, which has been upgraded, in the event of a long-term stoppage to flows via Druzhba.
The Czech Republic imports Russian crude through Druzhba and other crudes via the TAL pipeline, a key oil artery running from the Italian port of Trieste to Central Europe via Germany.
Due to capacity upgrades, the Czechs are set to fully rely on TAL shipments from the second half of this year, ending the country's need to import Russian crude.
