WARSAW, Poland — A leak was detected in an underground oil pipeline in Poland which is the primary route by way of which Russian crude reaches Germany, the Polish operator stated Wednesday.
The operator, PERN, stated it detected a leak within the Druzhba pipeline on Tuesday night about 70 kilometers (45 miles) from the central Polish metropolis of Plock.
It stated the reason for the leak wasn’t identified. The incident follows leaks late final month within the Nord Stream 1 and a couple of gasoline pipelines working alongside the Baltic seabed, and amid an vitality standoff between Russia and the West.
A Polish authorities safety official, Stanislaw Zaryn, stated it was too early to invest in regards to the causes of the leak as specialists examine the matter.
“All hypotheses are potential,” Zaryn tweeted, including that “the size of the failure doesn’t have an effect on the protection of the Republic of Poland.”
The Druzhba pipeline, which in Russian means “Friendship,” is likely one of the world’s longest oil pipelines, and after leaving Russia it branches out to carry crude to factors together with Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Germany.
Firefighters had been working in cornfields close to the village of Zurawice to find out the precise level of the leak, based on a spokesman for firefighters, Brig. Karol Kierzkowski. He instructed the state information broadcaster TVP Data that roughly 400 cubic meters of spilled crude had been pumped out, and transmission alongside the road had been blocked.
Germany’s Financial system Ministry stated that Berlin’s provides are at the moment safe, with two German refineries persevering with to obtain provides by way of the Druzhba pipeline. It stated that reserves at these two refineries have been elevated in current weeks, and that each can, if wanted, be provided by way of the German port of Rostock and the Polish port of Gdansk.
Final yr, Russia accounted for round 35% of Germany’s crude oil provide. However that proportion has been diminished following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and Germany’s focus now could be on phasing out the remaining provides earlier than a European Union embargo on most Russian imports goes into impact.
A month in the past, the German authorities took management of three refineries owned by Russian vitality firm Rosneft, which account for about 12% of Germany’s oil refining capability.