MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Oil supplies from Russia to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline decreased by 60% in 2023, but flows were redistributed to Russian ports, the Transneft pipeline operator said in a statement.

"Since the beginning of last year, there has been a redistribution of pipe supplies from the Druzhba oil pipeline (a decline of 60%) to Russian oil ports (an increase of 7.2%)," the statement said.

Taking into account transit, shipments through the Black sea port of Novorossiysk increased by 3.1%, to 30 million tons, shipments through Primorsk (Russia’s Far East) went up by 6.5%, to 44.4 million tons, shipments through Ust-Luga (Leningrad region) grew by 9%, to 34 million tons.

The Druzhba oil pipeline provides oil supplies to Belarusian refineries and its transit to Europe. The pipeline originates in the Samara region, passes through Bryansk and then branches out into two sections (northern and southern) and passes through Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary. Currently, supplies of Russian oil via the northern branch have been halted. Instead Kazakhstan’s oil is transported through this branch to Germany.