Russian Company Transneft Decides to Ship Oil to Europe

Transneft, a Russia-based oil and gas pipeline transportation company, noted that oil shipments to Europe via Ukraine have been halted.

Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft said in a written statement that the southern branch of the Drujba line, which carries Russian oil through Ukraine to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, requires prepayment to Ukrtransnafta. The statement said that the last prepayments made to Ukrtransnafta to ensure gas deliveries to Europe were returned to Transneft, adding that the payments could not be made due to the sanctions imposed by the European Union. In the statement, it was stated that due to the failure to make the necessary payments, Ukrtransnafta stopped providing shipment services to the company, so they decided to stop the shipment of Russian oil to Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia via Ukraine as of August 4. It was added that Transneft's shipments on other branches of the Drujba line continued, and there were no problems with shipments to Poland and Germany via Belarus.