German media earlier reported a drop in the volume of Russian oil deliveries via the Druzhba oil pipeline network, the second case in the last eight months, which it attributed to problems in the pipe system.
"The decrease was not due to Transneft," Transneft Vice President Sergei Grigoryev said. Russia's largest independent oil producer LUKoil "undersupplied by about one third, while a number of small companies stopped supplying crude to Germany."
The Druzhba pipeline network was built in the 1960s to pump oil from central Russia to Europe. The pipeline starts in the Samara Region, and divides into two branches. The southern branch pumps crude via Ukraine, while the northern branch passes through Belarus, and then on to Germany via Poland.
