Clean Russian oil has started being shipped to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline.
“The acceptance [of oil] was opened today at the Adamowo-Zastawa transfer point at 7:11 a.m. on June 9, 2019,” Igor Dyomin, Transneft press secretary and an advisor to its president, told journalists on June 9 morning.
“Clean Russian oil has started being shipped to Poland across Belarus,” Dyomin said.
Belneftekhim reported on the evening of April 19 that the quality of Russian oil coming through the pipeline had deteriorated sharply. The Gomeltransneft Druzhba trunk pipeline stopped the transport of off-spec Russian oil to Europe on April 24.
The Russian Energy Ministry acknowledged that Russian oil was contaminated with dichloroethane, a toxic substance used as a grease and paraffin solvent having strong corrosive properties. According to Transneft, the oil was intentionally contaminated in the Samara-Unecha section. Quality Russian oil started being shipped through the Druzhba pipeline to Belarus on May 2, and Ukraine resumed oil transport to Europe on May 11.
