According to media reports and the company’s website press release on October 12, 2022, the Druzhba oil pipeline linking Russia and Germany has been partly shut after a leak was discovered in Poland.
"The cause of the incident is not known for the moment. Pumping in the affected line was immediately stopped. Line 2 of the pipeline is functioning normally," PERN said.
The leak was detected late on Tuesday near the village of Zurawice about 180 kilometers to the west of Warsaw in central Poland.
"PERN emergency services and the state fire service immediately went to the scene to assess the situation, secure the area and start rescue operations," PERN said.
PERN spokesperson Katarzyna Krasinska was quoted by PAP news agency as saying that the pipeline was mainly supplying two refineries in Schwedt and Spergau in Germany.
The Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline network was started in the 1960s and now covers 5,500 kilometers, pumping oil from the Urals to Europe through two main branches via Belarus and Ukraine.
The leak on the Druzhba pipeline comes after four leaks were discovered in the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to Germany.
The pipelines have been at the center of geopolitical tensions as Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation against Western sanctions following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
NATO on Tuesday said the alliance had bolstered naval deployments to protect its infrastructure in the Baltic and North Seas, saying the Nord Stream leaks were an act of "sabotage."
G7 leaders also on Tuesday said in a statement they were "deeply troubled" and "strongly condemn any deliberate disruption of critical infrastructure."
Druzhba Pipeline at a glance
Druzhba Pipeline is one of the biggest crude oil pipeline networks in the world. The total length of the pipeline system including all its branches is around 5500 km. The official beginning of the Druzhba network is in Almetyevsk in the Russian Federation, where pipelines carrying crude oil from Siberia, the Urals and the Caspian Sea meet. Druzhba runs to Mozyr in Belarus, where it splits into a northern and a southern branch. The northern branch continues via Belarus and Poland to Germany. The southern branch runs through Ukraine, splitting in Uzhgorod into Druzhba 1 continuing to Slovakia (where it splits again and goes to the Czech Republic in one branch and Hungary in another) and Druzhba 2 continuing to Hungary. The current capacity of Druzhba is 1,2–1,4 million barrels a day, with possibility to increase up to 2 million barrels a day.
History of Druzhba Pipeline
The decision to construct a crude oil pipeline from the (then) USSR to its ally countries joint in the socialist bloc was taken by the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance convening in Prague in December 10, 1958. The construction started in 1960, with each country responsible for their section (the pipeline became a property of that country).
Pipes were manufactured in the Soviet Union and Poland, valves and fittings in Czechoslovakia. The German Democratic Republic delivered pumps and Hungary provided automation and communications equipment. The pipeline cost approximately 400 million rubles to build. More than 15 million cubic meters of earth were moved to lay down 730 000 tons of pipe. Druzhba crossed 45 major rivers on its road to Central Europe. The whole pipeline was put into operation in October 1964.
