The oil pipeline also supplies the eastern German refinery Schwedt.
(Photo: dpa)
Warsaw According to the Polish operator PERN, a leak has occurred on the Druzhba oil pipeline from Russia. This was discovered on Tuesday evening, the company announced on Wednesday. It was discovered in a section of the line about 70 kilometers from the central Polish city of Plock.
According to Polish information, the leak is probably not due to sabotage. The cause is more likely to be accidental damage, Mateusz Berger, the representative responsible for the energy infrastructure, said in a telephone call to the Reuters news agency.
According to a report by the Interfax news agency, the Russian state pipeline operator Transneft said it had been informed by the Polish operator PERN about a leak in the oil pipeline. It was not said how long a repair would take. Transneft continues to pump oil towards Poland.
The Druzhba oil pipeline is one of the largest in the world, delivering Russian oil to much of central Europe – including Germany, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria. The pipeline’s name means “friendship” in Russian. It also supplies the east German refinery Schwedt, which is majority-owned by the Russian owner Rosneft. Germany no longer wants to use Russian oil from the end of the year.
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The second line of the pipeline is said to be working normally. This also applies to other areas of the PERN infrastructure. “At this point in time, all PERN services (technical, operational, plant fire brigade and environmental protection) act according to the algorithms provided for this type of situation,” said the operator.
A spokeswoman for Czech pipeline operator MERO said no changes in flows into the Czech Republic have been identified so far.
More: Futurist Rifkin on fears of sabotage: “Governments need to wake up”