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The PCK refinery GmbH in Schwedt
Photo: Patrick Pleul / picture alliance / dpa
A leak in the Druzhba pipeline, through which oil flows from Russia to Europe, has been discovered in Poland.
The cause is still unknown, said the Polish pipeline operator Pern.
This is the main line through which the crude oil flows to Germany.
According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, the security of supply in Germany is guaranteed.
The Schwedt refineries in Brandenburg and Leuna in Saxony-Anhalt continued to receive crude oil via the line, a spokeswoman said.
According to unconfirmed media reports, the refinery in Schwedt is already receiving deliveries with reduced capacity.
Company spokesman Burkhard Woelki said in the morning: »There will be consequences.
Definitely less oil will arrive.« He cannot say anything about the extent, as it is unclear how serious the leak is and how long a repair will take.
"We are making arrangements to ensure supplies."
The main line of the pipeline was interrupted, but one line of cables was still working, said Woelki.
The federal government is “monitoring the situation closely”
According to initial information from the Polish authorities, "one assumes that the damage was unintentional, not sabotage," according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The federal government is “monitoring the situation closely” and is “in close contact with all affected authorities”.
"Both at PCK Schwedt and at the Leuna refinery, the company's own oil reserves have been deliberately increased over the past few weeks as a precaution." Schwedt and Leuna also get oil from the ports of Rostock and Gdansk.
At the end of September, explosions tore several holes in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
After the detonations, large amounts of gas escaped continuously for days from leaks in the two pipelines.
The leaks were in international waters in the Exclusive Economic Zones of Denmark and Sweden.
The suspicion of sabotage is in the room, the federal prosecutor is investigating.
According to the Polish environmental authority, the leak that has now been discovered in the Druzhba pipeline is between the towns of Boniewo and Chodecz and was reported late Tuesday evening on one of the two strands of the western section of the pipeline around 70 kilometers from the central Polish city of Plock.
Representatives of the environmental authority examined the damage, and a public prosecutor was also present.
The operator's statement said: "The pumps were switched off immediately.
The other leg of the oil pipeline is still in operation«.
This also applies to the rest of the network.
The operator's emergency services and the fire brigade were dispatched to the site of the leak.
A chemical and environmental clean-up team is on site, a fire department spokesman told the public broadcaster TVP.
The action could probably last several hours.
One concentrates on pumping a petroleum-based substance from a depression in a corn field.
So far, 400 cubic meters of oil have been pumped out, the pipeline has stopped and the pressure is falling.
Firefighters are still trying to pinpoint the exact location of the damage.
“The cause of the leak in the Druzhba pipeline is being investigated.
So far there is no indication of the cause of the failure.
All hypotheses are possible,” spokesman for the coordinator of intelligence services Stanislaw Zaryn wrote on Twitter.
The Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline is one of the largest in the world, delivering Russian oil to several countries in Central Europe.
Their pipes run partly above and partly below ground.
svs/dpa/Reuters/AFP
