Contaminated oil pipelines may take up to six months to get fully operational

Pipelines in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Poland are estimated to contain 5 million tonnes of contaminated Russian oil, Belarus's state news agency Belta cited an operator of the Belarusian section of the Druzhba pipeline as saying on Tuesday. It could take up to six months before the pipeline starts operating at full capacity, Andrei Verigo, first deputy head of Gomeltransneft Druzhba, quoted as saying by Belta. The pipeline would reach 60-65 per cent of its average annual capacity on May 10-11, he added.

Belarus, which processes Russian crude into refined products for sale abroad, estimated its loss from a reduction in product exports at $100 million. On Tuesday, Russia and Belarus - where Druzhba splits into two routes, with the southern leg going to Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic and the northern spur routed to Poland and Germany - held the second day of talks in Moscow.

Western oil consumers suspended imports of Russian oil via the pipeline last week due to contamination. The quality problem arose last week when an unknown Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride, which is used to boost oil output but must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment. Levels of organic chloride have fluctuated at 150-330 parts per million (ppm) instead of the 10-ppm maximum norm and the usual level of around 1-3 ppm, traders with several European energy majors said.

Moscow had also said on Friday it would take two weeks to stabilise oil supplies across the Druzhba network, which has northern and southern pipeline spurs.