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Shipment of quality oil resumed in Ust-Luga port - Russia’s Energy Ministry

Earlier, on May 8, on spec oil was transported to the metering station of Ust-Luga port

MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/. Ust-Luga, a port in the Russian northwestern Leningrad region, has resumed shipping Russian export crude compliant with GOST (All Union State Standard) requirements, the Russian Energy Ministry said on Friday.

"Earlier, on May 8, on spec oil was transported to the metering station of Ust-Luga port. On May 9, it started to flow into a tank farm for being loaded onto tankers," the ministry added.

On April 19, the Belarusian petrochemical company Belneftekhim reported a sharp deterioration in the quality of the Russian oil running through the pipeline. The content of organochloride compounds in Urals crude delivered via the Gomeltransneft Druzhba oil pipeline was "dozens of times above the limit value." On April 24, the transit of poor quality oil to Europe was suspended.

The contaminant source was revealed at the Samara-Unecha section. Russia’s Transneft oil corporation pointed out that the oil in the Druzhba pipeline had been deliberately contaminated. According to the company, criminal proceedings were initiated after the incident.

On April 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged that providing the corporate investigation failed, he would order special services to establish the circumstances of the incident.