Druzhba pumping by Transneft falls 4.4–4.5 mln tns during incident

NOVOROSSIYSK, Jun 14 (PRIME) -- Oil pumping by the Druzhba pipeline by Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft fell by 4.4–4.5 million tonnes when the pipeline was full with contaminated oil, but the company plans to catch up with the volume in 2019, Vice President Sergei Andronov told reporters on Friday.

“It was smaller for these six–eight weeks while the situation (with oil contamination) lasted, I think, by 4.5 million tonnes or 4.4 but we still hope, we will try to compensate for it in the remaining two quarters,” Andronov said.

The problem with the quality of oil coming from Russia to Europe across Belarus via the Druzhba pipeline appeared in April. Good-quality oil deliveries resumed in early May, and Belarus started pumping contaminated oil back to Russia in late May through one of the pipeline’s threads.

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