MINSK, May 17. / TASS /: The transit pumping of Russian oil in Ukrainian direction is suspended due to the lack of free tankers in this country for pumping "dirty" oil, Belneftekhim said in a statement on Friday.
"The transit pumping in the direction of Ukraine is unstable and is currently suspended due to the lack of free tankers on the Ukrainian territory for pumping out the 'dirty' oil in the pipeline. According to the new pumping schedule, its resumption is scheduled for the night of May 19-20," the company noted. The official Transneft representative Igor Demin told TASS that the suspension of deliveries through Ukraine was planned and carried out at the request of consumers.
Belneftekhim also said that oil is not being transported to Poland.
Druzhba pipeline incident
On April 19, the Belarusian petrochemical company Belneftekhim reported a sharp deterioration in the quality of the Russian oil running through the pipeline. Both Belarusian refineries - the Mozyr refinery (Gomel region) and Naftan (Vitebsk region) - reported the risk of equipment facing damage and almost halved the refining volumes. On April 23, Belarus was forced to halt exports of light oil products to Ukraine, Poland and Baltic countries due to deliveries of poor quality oil.
Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia suspended crude oil supplies from Russia through the Druzhba oil pipeline. The pollutant was revealed at the Samara-Unecha section. Russia’s Energy Ministry referred to technical issues as the reason for the contamination of the oil, saying that the problem would be ironed out quickly. A criminal case was initiated in connection with the incident.
Supplies of clean Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline to Belarus resumed on May 2. Ukraine resumed oil transit to Europe on May 11. Transneft pipeline operator reported that the supply of standard oil to Slovakia and Hungary will resume between May 21 and May 24. In the near future, the resumption of deliveries to Poland and Germany is also expected.
