UPDATE: Official: Poland to start receiving clean oil via Druzhba Sat–Sun

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MOSCOW, Jun 3 (PRIME) -- Poland’s entry point of the Druzhba pipeline Adamowo-Zastawa will receive good quality Russian oil on Saturday or Sunday, aide to the president of Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft Igor Dyomin told reporters on Monday.

“Concerning work of the Druzhba pipeline: it has become normal at the entry points Budkovice, Slovakia and Fenyeslitke, Hungary. Suction of oil with excessive levels of chlorinated organics continues on the territory of Belarus. Acceptance point Adamowo-Zastawa will most probably receive good quality oil on June 8–9,” Dyomin said.

Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin confirmed that clean oil will reach Poland on Sunday.

Participants of the recent negotiations on recovery of oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, including Transneft, operators of the facility in other states, large Russian companies such as Rosneft, and European customers such as Poland’s Orlen and France’s Total, have discussed a mechanism for compensation without elaborating on the sums, Sorokin also said.

“We signed a protocol to sum up the negotiations, and all the parties, all the participants authorized it. That is why we hope that most of the procedure matters have been decided,” he added.

Orlen said in a statement that Transneft promised to compensate for the losses via Russian oil companies.

The problem with the quality of oil coming from Russia to Europe across Belarus via the Druzhba pipeline appeared in April. In Belarus, the pipeline splits into two strings, of which one goes to Poland and Germany, and the other to Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. Good-quality oil deliveries resumed in early May, but there is still dirty oil in the facility.

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