OREANDA-NEWS. The Ministry of Energy of Poland decided to use 800 thousand tons of oil from strategic reserves to compensate for the supply of Russian oil, which Warsaw suspended transit because of the decline in the quality of oil in the Druzhba pipeline, Reuters reports, citing an official ministry representative. After the quality of oil in the Druzhba pipeline decreased, Poland suspended the transit of raw materials. Now Warsaw intends to use 800 thousand tons of oil from reserves.

Poland stopped the transit of oil through the Druzhba pipeline last week, immediately after receiving the first information on the pollution of raw materials. This was announced on April 25th. The country informed the Belarusian partners about the refusal to accept oil with such pollution indicators, explaining that Germany and Poland are at risk of damaging oil refining equipment.

The deterioration in the quality of Russian oil became known on April 19. Transneft stated that the injection of poor-quality raw materials into the pipeline took place through the SamaraTransNeft-Terminal, which is at the stage of bankruptcy. At the same time, the company itself indicated that it sold this node in 2017. On the eve of the Ministry of Energy reported that export oil that meets the standards, has reached the Russian-Belarusian border. The ministry suggested that the refinery in the Gomel region will receive it on May 2–3. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said that the stable operation of the Druzhba gas pipeline would be restored within two weeks.

Earlier, Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev made the punishment up to the criminal one for pumping low-quality oil through the Druzhba pipeline.According to Belneftekhim, it will take several months to fully restore the transit of oil through the pipeline. The company indicated that the measures taken would allow only one of the two pipelines to be restored.