Pipeline carrying Russian oil to Germany fixed
October 15, 2022
The Druzhba pipeline, which transfers Russian crude oil to Germany and other Central European countries, has been fixed after a leak was reported earlier this week.
Polish state-run pipeline operator PERN said the pipeline was now fully operational.
"PERN's technical services restored the full functionality of the damaged pipeline used to deliver crude oil to the company's German customers on Saturday," Reuters news agency quoted PERN as saying in a statement.
'No sabotage' suspected
The operator stressed it was still investigating the cause of the leak, which was reported on Tuesday, but said there was no reason to suspect sabotage.
"Based on initial assessments, and the manner and way that the pipeline is formed, there are no hints as of now of outsider tampering," Germany's dpa news agency quoted PERN as saying.
In the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, European countries have been scrambling to minimize their reliance on Russian oil and gas.
Last month, explosions hit the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Both Russia and Western countries have swapped sabotage accusations. The two pipelines were not operational at the time — Moscow cut off gas supplies via Nord Stream 1 in August, saying Western sanctions were to blame for technical problems. Russia's aggression against Ukraine prompted Germany to shelve the Nord Stream 2 project in February.
The Druzhba pipeline was set up in the 1960s to transfer crude oil from Siberia to countries including Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Germany. Meaning "Friendship" in Russian, the pipeline is among the largest systems worldwide.
rmt/nm (AP, dpa, Reuters)