Oil pipeline to Germany partly shut after leak found in Poland

theguardian.com:

The Druzhba oil pipeline linking Russia and Germany has been partly shut after a leak was discovered in Poland, the Polish operator Pern said on Wednesday.

“The cause of the incident is not known for the moment. Pumping in the affected line was immediately stopped. Line 2 of the pipeline is functioning normally,” the operator said.

The German government said oil deliveries were continuing to two key refineries, despite the leak. “Germany’s security of supply is currently guaranteed … Deliveries are uninterrupted,” the economy ministry said in a statement.

The incident comes after four leaks were discovered in the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to Germany. The pipelines have been at the centre of geopolitical tensions as Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation against western sanctions after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The leak on an underground segment of the Druzhba pipeline was detected late on Tuesday near the village of Żurawice about 110 miles to the west of Warsaw.

A Pern spokesperson, Katarzyna Krasińska, told AFP that firefighters were pumping out the spilled oil, “which could take several hours”.

The Russian oil pipeline operator, Transneft, said its Polish counterpart had notified it of the leak. “Yes, we received a message … We have no information as to how long it will take to repair the damage,” the Transneft vice-president, Sergei Andronov, said, according to the Interfax news agency. “From their end at the moment, oil continues to be accepted,” he added.

The pipeline mainly supplies two refineries in Schwedt and Leuna in Germany. The Schwedt refinery, which is close to the Polish border and supplies 90% of the oil consumed in Berlin and the surrounding region, including