MOSCOW, April 30, (Newswires/TASS) - Russian Railways will start oil deliveries substituting volumes earlier pumped via the Druzhba oil pipeline in May, the corporate press service reports.
"Trains with railtank cars are already in the course of loading with oil. First shipments are expected in early May. Railwaymen are ready to support carriage of all the declared oil volumes within the required timeframe," the press service said.
Russian Railways is ready to provide up to five thousand railtank cars for oil carriage to Western buyers in connection with the oil contamination problem in the Druzhba oil pipeline, the company told TASS last week.
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.
On April 23, Belarus suspended exports of light oil products to Ukraine, Poland and Baltic countries due to poor quality oil supplied to its refineries. Poland also refused to accept Russian crude delivered via the Druzhba pipeline.
The Russian authorities admitted the fact that the oil supplied via the pipeline is of poor quality, but said the problem was technical and would be resolved soon. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak vowed that crude of proper quality would reach the Belarusian border on April 29.
Transneft said that oil pollution in the pipeline was deliberate. According to the company, a criminal case was initiated into the incident. EO of Russian pipeline operator Transneft Nikolai Tokarev will report on the situation with contamination of oil in the Druzhba pipeline to President Vladimir Putin later on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
“He [Putin] will hear Tokarev, the head of Transneft, naturally, first of all, on the situation with the Druzhba oil pipeline,” Peskov said.
Full restoration of oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline will require several months of hard work, Belneftekhim company announced on Tuesday.
“The measures that have been taken will allow restoring the operation of only one string of the Druzhba pipeline. Full restoration will require several months of hard work,” the report says.
“Taking into account the speed of oil movement, as well as the distance (106 km from the Unecha line operation dispatcher station to the border), the arrival of oil on the Belarusian territory is expected no earlier than 23:00 on May 2, 2019,” according to the report.
An official with Belneftekhim noted that the Mozyr oil refinery will receive Russian oil of good quality no earlier than May 4.