MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. Russian pipeline operator Transneft has revised the forecast for the settlement of the incident with oil contamination at the Druzhba pipeline, extending it for a year - until 2022, a top manager of the company said during a conference call with analysts and investors.

"Considering the way the negotiations are going, we are no longer so optimistic. I think that all this will be settled already in 2022, [I mean] the final settlement with all shippers," he said. Earlier it was reported that Transneft hoped to settle all issues related to the incident at Druzhba with the shippers this year.

The company created a reserve worth 30.3 bln rubles ($412 mln to pay compensations to the shippers. By now 13.8 bln rubles ($187 mln) of the total amount has been used.

"I can say with a high degree of certainty that we will no longer increase the reserve, as we did at the end of 2019," the Transneft spokesman said.

Crude oil contaminated with chlorides entered the Druzhba oil pipeline in April 2019. Oil pumping was suspended temporarily after that. The Transneft Board of Directors approved compensations to shippers for oil contaminated with the cap of $15 per barrel. The company made the provision for payments.