Belneftekhim developes scheme for ousting dirty oil from Belarusian section of Druzhba pipeline and reservoirs

24 апреля 2019

We continue to monitor the tense situation in the petrochemical industry, which was provoked by the supply of toxic raw materials fr om Russia via the Druzhba pipeline to Belarusian refineries and European partners. According to preliminary information, hundreds of thousands of tons of crude oil poisoned by chloride compounds have entered the system as a result of negligence in the Samara-Unecha section.

Yesterday, Belarusian refiners held difficult negotiations with Russian Transneft on minimizing losses and compensating for the damage that poor-quality oil has already caused the Belarusian refinery, the Gomel section of the Druzhba oil pipeline and the economy of the republic as a whole. According to our information, the negotiations did not bring results. The Russian side did not give any clear answers, even though it was responsible for the critical situation. Moreover, despite the fact that Belarus was the first partner to encounter a poisonous wave, suffered the greatest damage, and took upon itself a significant part of the costs of saving European contractors, the Russian company considers these issues secondary and refers to obligations to other partners.

The position of the Belarusian refiners is unchanged. Strictly within the framework of the signed contracts and commitments, they require Transneft to urgently provide Mozyr and Novopolotsk refineries with high-quality oil. All technical capabilities are provided for this. Naftan is ready to take clean raw materials through an alternative oil artery; delivery to the Mozyr Oil Refinery can be done by rail. All the preparatory work on the Belarusian side has already been completed.

This afternoon, pumping of pure oil to Naftan began along the northern branch of Surgut – Polotsk. The situation in Mozyr is still without improvements.

Belneftekhim has developed a scheme for ousting dirty oil from the Belarusian section of the Druzhba pipeline and reservoirs, wh ere more than a million tons of surrogate have already accumulated. It is planned to push it out to Unecha, and then send it to Ust-Luga, thus clearing the main arteries.

Unfortunately, it is obvious at the current moment that Transneft is not going to promptly resolve the situation, which increases the already enormous damage to partners in Belarus, Ukraine and the European Union. With the most negative developments, our republic will be forced to suspend the transit of poisonous oil for export in order to protect both its own interests and those of its partners in Europe.

Let me remind you that the oil with chlorine impurities, tens of times higher than the safe concentrations, was discovered by Belarusian experts on Thursday last week. A surrogate is so toxic that it corrodes the internal steel surface of trunk pipes, damages expensive equipment at the refinery, and threatens to be an environmental catastrophe in the event of a system breakthrough. Due to emergency measures, a full-scale accident has so far been prevented - some of the toxic compounds are sent to septic tanks, and expensive additives are used to neutralize poor-quality raw materials that have already entered the system. There are obvious losses. The Belarusian export of oil and oil products is suspended, the plants are operating at half capacity.

According to the most preliminary estimates, the total damage already exceeds hundreds of millions of dollars. Every day the delay of Russian partners increases our losses.