The number of disruptions in oil and gas pipelines has recently been increasing. Now the operator of the Druzhba oil pipeline in Poland has discovered a leak. The cause is unclear. According to the operators, there has not yet been a drop in deliveries in the Czech Republic.
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 said. It was discovered in a section of the line about 70 kilometers from the central Polish city of Plock. The causes of the leak are currently unknown.
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. 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.
