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Hungary suspends Russian oil supplies over Druzhba pipeline

Earlier, Belarus announced a downgrade in the quality of crude oil from Russia through the Druzhba pipeline Druzhba and suspended the export of light petroleum products to Ukraine, Poland, the Baltics

VIENNA, April 26 /TASS/. Hungary has suspended Russian oil deliveries over the Druzhba oil pipeline, the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL told TASS on Friday.

"MOL continuously monitors the quality of the raw materials coming through the Druzhba pipeline, and does not allow non-standard crude oil to arrive in Hungary. Thus far the quality of the crude oil coming through the pipeline has been in accordance with the regulations, however we have decided to temporarily suspend the takeover of the crude oil. Contaminated crude oil cannot enter our refinery," the company said in a comment.

On April 19 Belarus announced a dramatic downgrade in the quality of crude oil coming from Russia through the Druzhba oil pipeline. The source of contamination was found on the Samara-Unecha section of Druzhba in Russia.

On April 23, Belarus suspended the export of light petroleum products to Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries due to poor-quality oil supplied to Belarusian refineries. Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia suspended deliveries of crude oil from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline.

The Russian authorities admitted the fact that the oil supplied via the pipeline is of poor quality but the problem is technical and will be resolved soon. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said earlier that high-quality oil from Russia will be on the border with Belarus on April 29.

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