Russia plans to restore oil supplies via its key Druzhba pipeline to Europe before the end of April, after joint talks with Belarus, Ukraine and Poland on Friday in Minsk.
Poland, Germany, Ukraine and other countries suspended imports of Russian oil via the pipeline this week due to contamination. Halting those supplies has knock-on effects further along the network.
Pavel Sorokin, Russia's deputy energy minister, told reporters in Minsk after the talks that one of the options for supplying clean oil was to mix the contaminated product with regular supply.
"We can say that at the Russian segment (of Druzhba pipeline) the quality targets will be reached before the end of the month," he told reporters.
The problem arose last week when an unidentified Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride used to boost oil output but which must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.
The suspension cuts off a major supply route for Polish refineries owned by Poland's PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, as well as plants in Germany owned by Total, Shell, Eni and Rosneft.
Belarus has made an offer to Russia to reverse oil flows on the Druzhba pipeline to get rid of contaminated oil and start pumping oil via an alternative route. However there is "still a list of technical questions" to be reviewed over the coming days, the CEO of Belarusian state oil concern Belneftekhim, Andrei Rybakov, said on Friday.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters
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