August 2019, Vol. 246, No. 8

Global News

Russia’s Transneft Criticizes Rosneft over Tainted Oil Crisis

Russian state-owned pipeline monopoly Transneft criticized oil producer Rosneft, Reuters reported, alleging it had dragged its feet over quality controls and making unsubstantiated damages claims.

Transneft said that Rosneft had been unwilling to help resolve a contaminated oil crisis in the Russian Druzhba export pipeline which began in late April, and that the oil producer was seeking compensation from it without any grounds.

Rosneft said that it had read Transneft’s statement with “regret” and “bewilderment.”

“Instead of not so constructive comments, we’d like to see a clear and public plan of measures,” Rosneft said in a statement. 

The oil contamination, the largest in the history of the Druzhba pipeline, which was built in 1960s, has undermined Russia’s reputation as an energy supplier and led to the suspension of operations at several oil refineries in Europe.

It also revived old tensions between the two companies which are both run by close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rosneft’s Igor Sechin and Nikolai Tokarev at Transneft.

Despite formally denying any strife between their CEOs, the two companies have repeatedly clashed in the past over a number of issues, only declaring a truce over the last year. P&GJ