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Russia's Transneft expects clean oil to reach Poland on June 8-9

The company plans to completely clean the Druzhba pipeline from chlorine in 6-8 months

© Piotr Kovalev/TASS

MOSCOW, June 3. / TASS /.The shipment of clean oil to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba main oil pipeline is working as usual, and deliveries of clean oil to Poland may start as early as June 8-9, Transneft spokesman Igor Demin told reporters on Monday.

"Oil at the delivery point (PSP) Budkovice (Slovakia) and Feneslytke (Hungary) has entered a normal mode. In Belarus, oil with excess organochlorine continues to be pumped out, from the PSP Adam's Zastava (Poland). Presumably, clean oil will reach PSP on June 8-9," said he.

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Vice-president of Transneft Sergey Andronov told Kommersant newspaper in an interview that the company plans to completely clean the Druzhba pipeline from chlorine in 6-8 months. Clean oil arrived at the Belorussian refinery on May 4, and starting on May 10 to the Ust-Luga port and starting on May 23 and 29, respectively, through Ukraine to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, he noted. At present, according to Andronov, the total volume of contaminated oil supplied via the Druzhba pipeline system and through the port of Ust-Luga amounted to about 3 million tonnes. Demin also said that all ports are working as usual, the shipment is on schedule, and there are no tankers late. "At the Uyar railway terminal, there is a backlog of shipment schedule of about 9,000 tonnes in the direction of the Komsomolsk Oil Refinery, due to the delayed supply of empty tanks," he said.

The Druzhba oil pipeline provides supplies of oil to the Belarusian refineries and its transit to Europe through Belarus, Poland and Ukraine.

In mid-April, Belneftekhim reported a sharp deterioration in the quality of the Russian oil running through the pipeline. As a result, several states stopped receiving and refining the Russian oil. The contaminant source was revealed at the Samara-Unecha section. Transneft said that the Russian oil in the Druzhba pipeline was deliberately contaminated. Law enforcement agencies initiated a respective criminal case. Official spokesperson of the Russian Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko told reporters earlier that contaminated oil was loaded into the Druzhba oil pipeline in order to conceal multiple oil thefts.

Dmitry Kozak and Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Lyashenko have agreed on measures to clean the pipeline, so as the supplies of clean oil to Poland could be resumed by mid-June. Supplies of good quality oil to Belarus resumed in early May.

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