Oil through the Druzhba pipeline began to flow to Slovakia

Slovakia began to receive oil through the southern branch of Druzhba, informed “RIA Novosti” press secretary of the Bratislava refinery Slovnaft Anton Molnar.

“The first liters of oil through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline entered the territory of Slovakia, to the linear production and dispatching station (LPDS) Budkovce. On Thursday morning we are expecting her at the Slovnaft plant in Bratislava,” he said.

Formerly Advisor to the President of Transneft Igor Demin informed on the resumption of oil pumping along the southern branch of the Druzhba in the direction of Hungary and Slovakia.

Prior to this, Reuters reportedthat the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL paid for the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine via Druzhba. MOL and the Slovak plant Slovnaft have already agreed with the Ukrainian side on the resumption of supplies.

On August 4, Ukrtransnafta stopped the pumping of Russian oil through one of the branches of the pipeline to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Demin reported. The reason was the inability to pay for oil pumping services through Ukrainian territory after the introduction of the seventh package of European sanctions. sent through Gazprombank the payment was returned to the Transneft account. Demin specified that the Ukrainian company provides oil transportation services on a 100% prepayment basis.

The Druzhba pipeline starts in the Samara region, passes through Bryansk, and then splits into two branches: northern and southern. The northern oil flows through Belarus in the direction of Poland, Germany and the Baltic States, the southern – to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. According to Transneft, oil exports to non-CIS countries via Druzhba in 2021 amounted to 35.9 million tons. In February, the company announced plans to increase pumping to 45.5 million tons per year.

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