Poland has closed a section of the Druzhba pipeline following a detected leak, Bloomberg reported on Sunday. The leak was discovered after a report was made to local authorities, including the firefighting service, which responded to the situation.
The Druzhba pipeline, which transports Russian crude oil to Central Europe, is used by Germany, which imports the oil through Poland for two of its refineries, one of which was previously owned by Russia’s Rosneft.
According to Reuters, Polish pipeline operator PERN later clarified that the partial shutdown would not disrupt crude oil deliveries to customers relying on the Druzhba pipeline.
Central European countries have been working to reduce their dependence on Russian oil since the outbreak of the Ukraine war. However, finding alternatives has proven difficult. One solution has been to replace Russian crude with Kazakh oil, which now feeds into Germany’s Schwedt refinery.
This is not the first time the Druzhba pipeline has experienced issues in Poland. In August 2023, PERN shut down another section of the pipeline due to a previous leak.
The Druzhba pipeline is a vital oil supply route from Russia to Europe. It has two main branches: a northern route through Belarus that supplies Poland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus, and a southern route through Ukraine, delivering oil to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Croatia.
Flows through the Druzhba pipeline were exempted from the EU’s December 2022 embargo on Russian crude oil imports by sea. The EU allowed pipeline oil deliveries to landlocked member states to continue.
Despite this exemption, Germany and Poland announced last year they would stop importing Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline starting January 1, 2023. Germany followed through on this pledge on the first day of the year, although the EU embargo allows for pipeline deliveries. For Hungary and Slovakia, however, Russian oil remains a crucial resource.
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