Ukrainian oil company Ukrtransnafta has resumed exports of Russian crude oil through the Druzhba pipeline, expecting to restore full deliveries by late May-early June.
Deliveries were first halted in April when high levels of organic chloride were found in crude pumped via the Druzhba pipeline to the Baltic port of Ust-Luga. Last week Ukrtransnafta resumed pumping crude from its territory to Hungary, but were stopped almost immediately following a request from Hungarian oil giant MOL, which said that it was having technical problems accepting it. On May 21, MOL agreed to store 100,000 tonnes of contaminated crude.
Belarusian oil operator Belneftekhim is still waiting for confirmation from Poland that it can resume pumping oil via the northern branch of the route will resume.
