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Restoration of oil transit via Druzhba pipeline will take 2 months — Belneftekhim

Head of the Belarusian Concern Belneftekhim Andrey Rybakov said "the route both for supplies to our refineries and for ensuring transit flows" will be unblocked at the end of July

MINSK, May 21. /TASS/. Head of the Belarusian Concern Belneftekhim Andrey Rybakov said that it would take about two months to fully restore the oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline. He made this statement in an interview with the Belarus-1 TV channel on Tuesday.

"At the end of July, on our territory there should be no oil that does not meet the standards for organochloride compounds, and we will completely unblock the route both for supplies to our refineries and for ensuring transit flows in full volume," Rybakov said.

According to him, by the end of May Belarus will transit less than 7% of the planned volume. "In May, we will secure less than 7% of the transit we planned," he said.

 

Druzhba pipeline incident

 

On April 19, Belarusian concern Belneftekhim reported a sharp deterioration of the quality of the Russian oil running through the Druzhba oil pipeline and subsequently informed pipeline operators from other countries about the situation. The content of organochloride compounds in oil was dozens of times above the limit value, the company said.

As a result, a number of countries have stopped transiting and refining Russian oil. The source of pollution was found on the Samara-Unecha stretch of the pipeline. The Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft said that oil contamination in the pipeline was intentional. A criminal case was initiated on the fact of oil contamination.

On May 2, good quality oil was delivered to the border of Belarus through the Druzhba pipeline.

Russia and Belarus set up a working group that should develop a plan of action to restore oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline, as well as to assess losses caused by the supply of poor-quality oil.