Minister: Four people detained after oil contamination in Druzhba

MOSCOW, May 7 (PRIME) – Four people have been detained after a government commission studied details of contamination of Russian oil on its way to Belarus, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday at a government meeting.

“Materials of the inspection were sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Federal Security Service and the Investigative Committee are conducting investigative measures, a criminal case was launched on articles 158, 210, and 215.2 of the Criminal Code. Four people have been detained and transferred to a pre-trial detention center by a court decision,” he said.

The problem with the quality of oil coming from Russia to Europe across Belarus via the Druzhba pipeline appeared in mid-April. As oil contaminated with chlorides moved through the pipes, Poland stopped receiving the black gold from Druzhba on April 24, and Ukraine on April 25. Good-quality oil started coming from Russia to Belarus on May 2.

Russia expects the start of pumping of clean oil to Poland to happen very soon, Novak said.

“As of today, quality oil started coming to the Mozyr oil refinery in the Republic of Belarus on May 4 ahead of schedule, and pumping of quality oil to the Brody metering station for further supplies to European consumers started on May 6. We expect coordination of pumping of quality oil to Poland to happen very soon,” he said.

The incident had no impact on production and exports of oil from Russia. “In general, this situation had no impact on the amount of production and exports from the Russian Federation, as flows were swiftly redirected, and companies continue operating as usual,” he said.

Clean and standard-quality oil from Russia will come to the port of Ust-Luga on Wednesday morning, he added.

Transneft also decided to start taking daily tests for chlororganic compounds in oil instead of once in 10 days like before, he said.

He suggested that the oversight authorities conduct full-scale inspections at all commercial oil metering stations and prepare changes to regulations like introduction of a mandatory accreditation of chemical analysis laboratories for trade operations with oil and oil products. He also suggested raising corporate fines for violations of oil quality regulations to 2% of a company’s turnover from the current 300,000 rubles.

The authorities have prepared a legal and regulatory framework that should prevent similar incidents in the future. The changes include formalization of demands for the quality of export oil, changes in industrial standards, and expansion of quality factors that should be checked daily in the oil that flows through the pipelines, he said.

(65.3350 rubles – U.S. $1)

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