Russia's Transneft says Druzhba Pipeline to Resume on July 1

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft expects the Druzhba pipeline to resume full operations from July 1, TASS news agency cited the company's vice president Sergey Andronov as saying on Friday.

Russia halted some oil supplies in April after excessive levels of organic chloride were found in the million barrel-per-day pipeline that crosses Belarus and serves customers as far west as Germany.

Transneft still plans for Russian oil exports in 2019 to be around 233 million tons, the state news agency reported the company's vice president as saying. 

Russian oil output fell to 11.11 MMbpd in May, its lowest level since June 2018, from 11.23 MMbpd in April, Energy Ministry data showed last week.

The production fall resulted mainly from the closure due to oil contamination of Russia's Druzhba pipeline, which usually ships 1 MMbpd, or 1 percent of global oil demand.

As a result, Russian oil production during May fell by more than stipulated in a global deal with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The Energy Ministry data showed Russian oil pipeline exports in May fell to 4.209 million bpd, from 4.494 million bpd in April, as supplies via the Druzhba pipeline almost dried up, while seaborne exports jumped by 11.5%.