MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th April, 2019) The main engineer of the Belarusian Gomeltransneft Druzhba pipeline operator said that PERN, the operator of the Polish section of the Druzhba oil pipeline, had informed Belarus that it had halted the transit of oil through the pipeline.
Last week, Russian state-owned transport monopoly Transneft acknowledged there was the high level of chlorides in the crude passing through the pipeline to Belarus, saying it would take steps to settle the situation.
"We have received a letter from PERN that oil refineries in Poland and Germany cannot accept and refine oil with such [quality] characteristics which the oil arriving at the Adamovo hub currently has. At 10:00 p.m. Warsaw time [20:00 GMT], they halted the selection which means that they ceased transporting oil to Poland at the Adamovo station for an indefinite period of time," Andrei Verigo said, as quoted by the Belta news agency.
The engineer noted that after receiving this notice from the Polish side, Gomeltransneft Druzhba decided to stop the transit of oil to the west due to the low quality of oil and PERN's refusal to accept it.
