MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland's pipeline operator, PERN, said on Monday it restored flows via Druzhba pipeline, which pumps oil from Russia to eastern and western Europe, after an oil leak near Warsaw caused by an illegal attempt to access the pipe, reported Reuters.
A PERN spokeswoman said that flows were restored at night, while the leak took place on Sunday afternoon. The operator said that during the incident it continued oil supplies to its clients - two refineries in Poland and two in Germany.
The Russian oil pipeline monopoly, Transneft, said it had resumed oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline following "an incident" at PERN on Sunday, TASS news agency reported.
Transneft also said that supplies were suspended on Sunday at 18.50 local time (1650 GMT) and resumed on Monday at 04.05 Warsaw time, according to TASS. PERN declined to provide the exact time of the suspension.
PERN said its technicians and firemen were working on the site to guarantee its safety.
"The leak was removed and the case is being investigated," PERN said in a statement.
As MRC wrote previously, in early November 2015, Poland’s top refiner PKN Orlen took delivery of its first crude from Saudi Arabia, a shipment that marked the start of new trade relationship undermining the traditional dominance of Russian supplies.
Besides, in H1 September 2019, Honeywell announced that PKN ORLEN had licensed the UOP MaxEne process, which can increase production of ethylene and aromatics and improve the flexibility of gasoline production. The project, for the PKN ORLEN facility in Plock, Poland, currently is in the basic engineering stage. Honeywell UOP, a leading provider of technologies for the oil and gas industry, first commercialized the UOP MaxEne process in 2013. The process enables refiners and petrochemical producers to direct molecules within the naphtha feed to the processes that deliver the greatest value and improve yields of fuels and petrochemicals.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
PKN ORLEN would be the first refining and petrochemicals company in Europe to use the Honeywell UOP MaxEne technology for molecule management of a naphtha stream to produce high-quality products including olefins, aromatics and gasoline.
MRC