Russia and Belarus have agreed to create a working group of 8 people to assess losses from oil pollution in the Druzhba pipeline and methods of compensation. The decision was made after negotiations in Moscow between Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak and Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Ihar Lyashenka, RIA Novosti reports.
Russia is ready to compensate for the losses, but only to those who can convincingly prove them.
“Technicians should also determine causal relationships. This is the question of why something broke… due to the oil or due to normal wear and tear,” Kozak said.
“Anyone who proves that they have real losses will, of course, be compensated,” he added.
The scandal surrounding the supply of substandard oil began on April 19. On this day, the Belneftekhim concern reported a sharp deterioration in the quality of oil flowing through the pipeline from Russia. With this in mind, on April 21, the Belneftekhim concern decided to temporarily limit exports of petroleum products. On April 22, the Mazyr Oil Refinery reported that poor quality Russian oil had led to the failure of expensive equipment. Due to poor quality oil, Poland and Ukraine refused to accept it and suspended transit through their territory.
According to estimates of the Russian Vedomosti, the total damage to Belarus from poor-quality Russian oil can be from $ 271.3 million to $ 435.3 million.
Transneft recognized oil contamination and stated that it would solve the problem as soon as possible. Later, the company suggested that the oil products could have been deliberately contaminated. On April 7, four people were detained in the case of the pollution of raw materials in the Druzhba pipeline.
