The cause of the major oil pipeline leak in Europe is still unclear
2023-08-06 21:14:25 Source: Financial Association shared to:
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On the evening of Saturday (August 5th) local time, PERN, the operator of the Polish section of the “Friendship” oil pipeline that transports crude oil from Russia to Europe, stated that a leak occurred on the Friendship oil pipeline in Hodech, Poland. On one of the two lines to Germany, pumping from the leaking line was shut down, while the other line was operating normally.
The PERN company claims that it will not cause damage to the health and lives of residents, has found the place where the pipeline is damaged, and said that preparations for repairing the pipeline are in progress, and the company is still investigating the cause of the leak.
Firefighters and PERN emergency services were called to the scene, but there were no reports of a fire. At present, the cause of the accident is still unclear, and it is expected that the transmission of the Friendship Pipeline will resume on Tuesday morning.
Firefighters revealed that the pipeline affected by the leak is isolated from other parts, so the scale of the leak is not large, about a rectangular area of 30×210 meters.
Supply to Polish refineries has not been affected, PERN said, and the company is in touch with its German partner who receives crude through the pipeline.
PERN did not say what the impact would be on Germany’s energy supply, but a German government spokesman said: “We are in contact with the operators of refineries in eastern Germany and the security of supply remains fully guaranteed.”
Since January this year, Germany and Poland have stopped receiving Russian crude oil through the Friendship pipeline, but German media reported that Kazakhstan is transporting crude oil to Europe through this pipeline.
The Friendship Pipeline is Russia’s most important pipeline for exporting crude oil to Europe. It is generally divided into the northern route and the southern route. The northern route leads to Germany and Poland through Belarus, and the southern route connects to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary through Ukraine.
According to data from the Russian oil pipeline transportation company, about one-third of the crude oil exported to Europe in 2021 will be transported through the Friendship pipeline, and about two-thirds will arrive by sea.
The Friendship pipeline can transport up to 2 million barrels of crude oil per day, but since the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the flow of the pipeline has been declining. In October last year, PERN detected a leak in one of the two pipelines in the western section of the pipeline, about 70 kilometers away from Plock, a city in central Poland.
Europe has been on high alert for the security of its energy infrastructure since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out last year, and following the discovery of major leaks from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea.
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2023-08-06 13:14:25
