UPDATE 2: Fin Min sees cutting Transneft divs after Druzhba incident wrong

(Adds paragraphs 6–7)

NUR-SULTAN/MOSCOW, May 29 (PRIME) -- Reducing dividends of Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft following oil contamination in the Druzhba pipeline is wrong, because it will be a kind of budget compensation for the company’s mistakes, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Wednesday.

“You want the government to pay for the oil supplier’s flaws. I believe this is not quite right… Any questions may be discussed, but to my mind it is wrong,” he said.

Igor Dyomin, adviser to the president of Transneft, told reporters that the company disagrees that the incident is its “flaw” and considers the assessment as too simple and possibly based on ill-wishers’ information.

“A crime has been committed, the investigation is underway. It views Transneft as a wronged party,” he added.

Transneft has not asked and will not ask the government to reduce its dividends following the incident, Dyomin also said.

Siluanov’s spokesman Andrei Lavrov said Transneft’s emotional reaction to the minister’s opinion was surprising.

“We know that a criminal case has been initiated and the investigation is carried out, but it does not change the essence of the matter. Siluanov is against transferring financial responsibility for what has happened to the budget, to taxpayers. The quality of oil in the pipeline is the responsibility of the supplier,” he said.

The problem with the quality of oil coming from Russia to Europe across Belarus via the Druzhba pipeline appeared in mid-April. Good-quality oil deliveries resumed in early May, but there is still much dirty oil in the facility.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said earlier in May that Transneft’s expenses after the incident would be taken into account while setting the company’s dividends.

End