Leak detected in Druzhba pipeline carrying Russian oil to Germany
The leak is probably accidental rather than sabotage, Poland's infrastructure official said, but the incident may stoke fears about the security of Europe's energy supplies as it seeks to boycott Russian fossil fuels.
Wednesday 12 October 2022 11:23, UK
A leak has been uncovered in a pipeline from which Germany gets the majority of its Russian crude oil, Polish operator PERN has said.
The firm said it identified a leak in one of two lines of the Druzhba pipe, which originates in Russia, about 45 miles from the central Polish city of Plock on Tuesday evening.
It said the cause of the leak is not known.
Poland's top official for energy infrastructure said there are no grounds to believe the leak was an act of sabotage.
"Here we can talk about accidental damage," Mateusz Berger said.
The event may still stoke concerns about the security of Europe's energy supplies.
The discovery of the leak comes as Europe faces a severe energy crisis in the aftermath of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine which has cut supplies of gas in a continuing stand-off.
Late last month several leaks were identified in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines running along the Baltic seabed.
Firefighters are working at the site of the leak, PERN said.
The Druzhba oil pipeline, whose name means "friendship" in Russian, is one of the world's largest, supplying Russian oil to much of central Europe including Germany, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.
Last year, Germany sourced around 35% of its oil from Russia, but has been weaning itself off it since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Germany is racing to entirely wean itself off the remaining supplies before a European Union embargo on most Russian fossil fuel imports comes into effect.
A month ago, the German government took control of three refineries owned by Russia's Rosneft, which account for about 12% of Germany's oil refining capacity.