ALBAWABA – Pipeline operator PERN may fix and reopen Poland’s Duzhba pipeline by Tuesday, news agencies reported Monday.
A leak was reported Saturday in the pipeline that conveys oil from Russia to Europe.
PERN said there was no indication a third party had caused the leak, noting that several attacks were carried out on pipelines carrying Russian oil and gas since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
"PERN services have reached the damaged section of one of the lines of the western section of the Druzhba pipeline in the commune of Chodecz," PERN said earlier on Sunday.
"It is the main line that transports crude oil from sea deliveries to the west. Repair work on the oil pipeline is currently underway. The expected time for pumping to resume is Tuesday morning."
PERN did not specify what impact the leak and subsequent suspension of pumping would have on supply to Germany. But a spokesperson for the federal Economy Ministry in Berlin said: "We are in contact with the operators of the east German refineries. The security of supply is still fully guaranteed," according to Reuters.
Firefighters and PERN emergency services were at the scene but there were no reports of a fire.
"The part of the pipeline that was affected by the leak was cut off from the rest, so the scale of the leak is not huge, we're talking about a rectangular area measuring 30 by 210 metres (yards)," Grzegorz Jankowski from the State Fire Services in Wloclawek told private broadcaster TVN24.
PERN said the second line was operating normally and there was no health threat to local residents, as reported by Reuters.
The company said supply to Polish refineries was not impacted and that it was in contact with German partners receiving oil through the pipeline. Germany stopped buying Russian oil in January, but German media have reported that Kazakh oil was being imported through the line, according to Reuters.
