Druzhba pipeline

History

On 18 December 1958, the 10th session of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), held in Prague, adopted a decision and an agreement was signed on construction of a trunk crude oil pipeline from the USSR into Poland, Czechoslovakia, the GDR and Hungary.{{cite journal The construction of the initially proposed 5327 km long pipeline commenced in 1960. Each country was to supply all necessary construction materials, machinery and equipment. Czechoslovakia received first oil in 1962, Hungary in September 1963, Poland in November 1963, and the GDR in December 1963. The whole pipeline was put into operation in October 1964. The first oil pumped through the Druzhba pipeline originated from the oil fields in Tatarstan and Samara (Kuybyshev) Oblast. In the 1970s, the Druzhba pipeline system was further enlarged with the construction of geographically parallel lines.

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the northern route to Germany was closed with Germany ceasing to buy oil in January 2023 and Russia ceasing to supply oil to Poland in February 2023. From December 2023, following agreements, Germany began importing 1.2 million tons of oil per year from Kazakhstan using the northern pipeline. In July 2024, the government of Ukraine stopped the transportation of Lukoil oil through the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary.

On 12 August 2025, Ukrainian drones attacked the Unecha junction and pumping station of the Druzhba pipeline in Bryansk Oblast, Russia causing fire detected by NASA's FIRMS. Five days later the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced that their UAVs had struck the Nikolskoye pumping station of the Druzhba pipeline, documented with satellite imagery from NASA's FIRMS. This second strike reportedly caused a complete halt of the Druzhba pipeline. On 21 August Ukrainian drones again attacked the Unecha hub and pumping station, again causing a halt of operations of the pipeline. |File:NASA FIRMS 2025-08-12 Unecha.png|NASA's FIRMS detected fire on 12 August 2025 23:18:00 (UTC) at the Unecha hub and pumping station of the Druzhba pipeline |File:NASA FIRMS 2025-08-17 Nikolskoye.png|NASA's FIRMS detected fire on 17 August 2025 23:50:00 (UTC) at the Nikolskoye oil pumping station, Michurinsky District |File:NASA FIRMS 2025-08-21 Unecha.png|NASA's FIRMS detected fire on 21 August 2025 18:51:00 (UTC) at the Unecha hub and pumping station of the Druzhba pipeline

Route

The pipeline begins at Almetyevsk in Tatarstan, where it collects oil from western Siberia, the Urals, and the Caspian Sea. It runs to Mazyr in southern Belarus, where it splits into a northern and southern branch. The northern branch crosses the remainder of Belarus across Poland to Schwedt in Germany. It supplies refineries in Płock and in Schwedt. The northern branch is also connected by the Płock–Gdańsk pipeline with the Naftoport terminal in Gdańsk, which is used for oil re-exports.{{cite news |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/08/business/web.0108oil.php |title=Belarus blocks Russian oil deliveries to Germany, Poland and Ukraine In Schwedt, the Druzhba pipeline is connected with the MVL pipeline to Rostock and Spergau. The southern branch runs south through Ukraine. In Brody, the Druzhba pipeline is connected with the Odesa–Brody pipeline, which is currently used to ship oil from the Druzhba pipeline to the Black Sea. In Uzhhorod, the pipeline splits into lines to Slovakia (Druzhba-1 — original Druzhba route) and to Hungary (Druzhba-2). The line through Slovakia is divided once again near Bratislava: one branch leading in a northwest direction to the Czech Republic and the other going southward to Hungary. The Druzhba-1 pipeline branches off toward Hungary in Banská Bystrica Region (Slovakia) near the river of Ipeľ, crosses the Hungarian border at Drégelypalánk and leads to Százhalombatta (not depicted on the map at the beginning of the page). In Hungary, the Druzhba-1 pipeline supplies the Duna refinery while Druzhba-2 supplies Duna and Tisza refineries.{{cite book |url=http://www.iea.org/textbase/nppdf/free/2000/hungary2003.pdf

The ORLEN Lietuva in Lithuania and Ventspils oil terminal in Latvia are connected to the main pipeline by the branch pipeline from the Unecha junction in Bryansk Oblast (not shown on the map). This branch ceased operation in 2006 and is not likely to become operational again any time soon.

The part of the Druzhba pipeline system which runs via Belarus is 2910 km long. The length of the pipeline in Ukraine is 1490 km, in Poland 670 km, in Hungary 130 km, in Lithuania 332 km, in Latvia 420 km, and in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic together around 400 km. The pipeline crosses 45 major rivers as well as 200 railways and highways.

Baltic Pipeline System-2

Main article: Baltic Pipeline System-II

The Baltic Pipeline System-2 (BPS-2) is a pipeline from the Unecha junction of the Druzhba pipeline near the Russia–Belarus border to the Ust-Luga oil terminal at the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland with a 172 km long branch line to Kirishi oil refinery. The throughput capacity of BPS-2 is 50 million tonnes of oil annually. The construction of the BPS-2 started on 10 June 2009. The BPS-2 was completed in 2011 and began to function in late March 2012.

Technical features

The pipes for the project were manufactured in the Soviet Union and Poland, while fittings were manufactured in Czechoslovakia. The GDR was responsible for pumps, and Hungary for automation and communication equipment. The construction cost nearly 400 million rubles and nearly 730,000 tons of pipe was laid throughout the path of the pipeline. The Druzhba pipeline currently has a capacity of 1.2 to. Work is currently underway to increase this in the section between Belarus and Poland. The pipe diameter of the pipeline varies from 420 to. It uses 20 pumping stations.

Operators

The Russian part of the pipeline is operated by the oil company Transneft through its subsidiary Transneft Druzhba. The operator in Belarus is Gomeltransneft Druzhba, in Ukraine UkrTransNafta, in Poland PERN Przyjazn SA, in Slovakia Transpetrol AS, in the Czech Republic Mero, and in Hungary MOL.

Proposed extensions

;

; Druzhba Adria The Druzhba–Adria Pipeline Integration Project was a proposal that was considered in the 2000s to extend the pipeline to pass through Hungary and Croatia to reach the Adriatic Sea at the deep-water port of Omišalj. In the first phase, the Croatian portion of the Adria pipeline would be reconstructed from the Sisak pumping station to Omišalj harbour. The Croatian company JANAF was responsible for the design of the initial project phase, to reverse the phases of the Adria pipeline (which currently carries oil from the port inland) on the Sisak-Omišalj portion.

It was also proposed to connect Druzhba Adria with the planned Pan-European Pipeline.

The proposal was touted by the Croatian president Stipe Mesić, but it also garnered a lot of negative press due to complaints from the environmentalist groups such as Eko Kvarner, and was eventually abandoned.

; Schwechat–Bratislava Oil Pipeline The Schwechat–Bratislava two-way oil pipeline project was proposed in 2003. It would allow to supply the OMV owned Schwechat Refinery from the Druzhba pipeline.

Controversies

2009 Parallel disputes on transit fees

Main article: Russia–Ukraine gas disputes

For the last several years, Russia and Ukraine have been tied up in transit fee disputes as the major pipelines supplying Europe with Russian oil and gas run through Ukraine. The continuous disputes were primarily based on transit of natural gas. On 28 December 2009, referring to Russia's announcement, Slovakian government said Russia issued warnings that it would stop oil supplies to Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic over a transit fees dispute with Ukraine. |access-date = 29 December 2009 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100101074415/http://www.france24.com/en/20091228-russia-warns-oil-supply-cut-off-through-ukraine-says-slovakia-petrol-europe |archive-date = 1 January 2010 However, the next day, Ukraine's Naftogas issued a statement confirming that Russia agreed to a 30 percent increase in the transit fees through Ukraine. The alleged rise in the tariff will be from $7.8 to $9.50 (or €6.6) per tonne of oil for transiting Ukraine in 2010, and this was implemented due to the decision from Russia to raise prices of the energy resources. Additionally, unlike previous payments, new payments will be made in Euros, as this was one of Ukraine's demands. Also, Ukraine needs substantial investments to update the network on its territory as the pipeline has aged. Russia and Ukraine also agreed on the volume of oil to be transported through Ukraine in 2010. The overall amount of oil to be transported to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary through Ukraine in 2010 will be 15 million tonnes, a decrease from 17.1 million tonnes in 2008. |access-date = 29 December 2009 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100123093311/http://www.france24.com/en/20091229-russia-ukraine-agreement-oil-transit-naftogaz-raise-tariffs-30-percent |archive-date = 23 January 2010

2019 oil contamination scandal

The delivery of oil was halted on 20 April 2019 due to high concentrations of organic chloride found in the pipeline. These chemical compounds contaminated the pipeline and equipment in Russia and Europe causing an economic impact of billions of dollars. Investigation into the scandal is ongoing with individuals being detained in Russia suspected of having stolen oil and pouring in organochloride to the pipeline to cover up the theft.{{cite news |access-date = 11 May 2019 |archive-date = 10 May 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190510174540/https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2019/05/10/russia-loses-billions-in-druzhba-oil-pipeline-contamination-crisis/ |url-status = live |access-date = 11 May 2019 |archive-date = 9 May 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190509174634/https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/05/08/who-contaminated-the-petroleum-supply-in-the-druzhba-pipeline-and-caused-russian-oil-exports-to-be-unusable-for-weeks-meduza-investigates |url-status = live

Disputes over payment for contaminated oil were ongoing a month later.{{cite news |access-date = 20 May 2019 |archive-date = 20 May 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190520121900/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-oil-exclusive/exclusive-western-buyers-freeze-russian-payments-over-dirty-oil-outage-idUSKCN1SQ13C |url-status = live

By late May, a month after the contamination was discovered, Russia agreed to take back some of the 8-9m tons of contaminated oil remaining in the pipeline.{{cite news |access-date = 24 May 2019 |archive-date = 24 May 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190524123505/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-oil-reverse-exclusive/exclusive-russia-to-take-back-dirty-oil-back-from-belarus-sources-idUSKCN1SU0UP?il=0 |url-status = live |access-date = 24 May 2019 |archive-date = 24 May 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190524014150/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-oil-transneft-quality/russia-removed-2-million-tonnes-of-tainted-druzhba-oil-using-rail-sea-storage-sources-idUSKCN1ST1TX |url-status = live

Estimates of overall contaminated stock, including that still in the pipeline and other stock pumped to tankers or to storage range from 20-40m tons as of end May. This stock will all require dilution before it can be refined.{{cite news |access-date = 24 May 2019 |archive-date = 25 May 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190525015929/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-24/russia-s-dirty-oil-crisis-is-worse-than-almost-anyone-predicted |url-status = live

In mid-September 2019, almost five months after the contamination was noticed, the Polish pipeline operator confirmed their section of the pipeline had been cleared of contamination and was operating normally. 450,000 tons of contaminated oil had been moved to storage.{{cite news |access-date = 20 September 2019 |archive-date = 19 September 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190919162541/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-oil-poland/poland-clears-tainted-oil-from-pipelines-450000-t-remains-in-storage-ria-idUSKBN1W31KH |url-status = live

Also in September 2019, oil companies BP and Total were trying to sell 2.3m barrels (over 300,000 tons) of tainted oil that they had received earlier from the pipeline.{{cite news |access-date = 20 September 2019 |archive-date = 19 September 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190919162541/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-oil-poland/poland-clears-tainted-oil-from-pipelines-450000-t-remains-in-storage-ria-idUSKBN1W31KH |url-status = live

2020 Belarus–Russia

In February 2020, Belarus threatened to take oil from the Druzhba pipeline if Russia did not supply it with the required volumes of crude oil. As of February 2022, Russian oil supplies to Belarus had not been agreed to for 2020 and shipments had dwindled to 500,000 tonnes, down from a previously planned 2 million tonnes. Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said Moscow hinted at an energy supply deal in exchange for Belarus merging with Russia, which caused talks to collapse.

2023 comment on possible sabotage of pipeline

In 2023, apparent classified U.S. intelligence documents released in the 2022–2023 Pentagon document leaks included a note of a conversation between the President of Ukraine and Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in which Volodymyr Zelensky suggested blowing up the Druzhba pipeline to hit Hungarian industry, as Orbán's government was too friendly towards the Kremlin during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

2025 attacks on Druzhba pipeline

In 2025 Ukraine attacked the pipeline several times: the Nikolskoje and Unecha pump stations in August; in September attacks in Russia's Bryansk region, as well as on the Ilsky Oil Refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region were reported.

References

References

1. (May 2006). "The List: The Five Top Global Choke Points". [[Foreign Policy]].
2. "Inpex Boosts Kazakhstan's Oil Exports to Germany via Druzhba Pipeline Network {{!}} Pipeline Technology Journal".
3. (2009). "Druzhba Pipeline". Pipelines International.
4. "История". [[Transneft]].
5. (25 February 2023). "Russia Halts Pipeline Oil Supplies To Poland, Polish Refiner Says". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
6. (7 March 2023). "Germany's Schwedt refinery losing out in race from Russian oil".
7. (8 December 2023). "Kazakhstan to supply 150,000 tonnes of oil to Germany via Druzhba pipeline in Dec".
8. (24 August 2024). "Hungary's foreign minister accuses EU of disrupting oil supplies from Russia".
9. Abnett, Kate. (23 August 2024). "EU declines Hungary's request for talks with Ukraine over oil sanctions". Reuters.
10. (13 August 2025). "The AFU Cuts Off Belarusian Refineries From Russian Oil?".
11. (13 August 2025). "Ukraine Claims Attack on Hub for Major Russian Oil Pipelines".
12. (18 August 2025). "Ukrainian Defense Forces Hit Nikolskoye NPS In Russian Federation".
13. (22 August 2025). "Ukrainian Drones Repeatedly Disable The Druzhba Oil Pipeline".
14. (22 August 2025). "Ukraine says it again hit Russia's Druzhba oil pipeline facility".
15. Anatoly Dozhin. (5 December 2002). "Druzhba never gets old". Rossijskaya Gazeta.
16. (24 May 2007). "Russia to redirect massive oil volumes from Druzhba to Baltic pipeline". [[The Jamestown Foundation]].
17. Geropoulos, Kostis. (26 May 2007). "BPS-2 to redirect oil volumes from Druzhba pipeline". New Europe.
18. (11 June 2009). "Russia builds Baltic oil pipeline to bypass Belarus". EurActiv.
19. (18 April 2012). "Czech concerns over the future of the Druzhba oil pipeline". [[Centre for Eastern Studies]].
20. (30 April 2007). "Zagreb floats new pipe plan". NHST Media Group.
21. (1 October 2003). "Issues surrounding the privatisation of the petrochemical industry in the V4 countries". Visegrad.info.
22. (14 February 2020). "Belarus to Russia: We'll siphon off your transit oil to Europe if necessary".
23. (14 February 2020). "Russia hints at Belarus joining it in a unified state in exchange for oil deal: Lukashenko".
24. "Page No Longer Available - The New York Times".
25. (13 May 2023). "Zelensky, in private, plots bold attacks inside Russia, leak shows". The Washington Post.
26. (2025-08-19). "Ungarn dankt Russland für Reparatur von Pipeline".
27. (2025-08-22). "Hungary and Slovakia Demand Ukraine Stop Attacks on Russia's Druzhba Pipeline".
28. (2025-09-07). "Ukraine says it attacked Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia's Bryansk". Reuters.
29. (2025-09-08). "Ukraine Armed Forces Hit Key Russian Pipeline and Refinery {{!}} Pipeline Technology Journal".
30. Khomenko, Ivan. (2025-09-07). "Ukraine Strikes Russia's Druzhba Oil Pipeline and Ilsky Refinery, Hitting Key Fuel Supply Lines".