Ukrtransnafta will commission a section of the Druzhba oil pipeline, built 10 years ago

Ukrtransnafta JSC will commission the Brody-State Border section of the pipeline (Druzhba), built more than 10 years ago to increase the level of anthropogenic and environmental safety of the oil transmission system of Ukraine, the press service reports.

The corresponding decision was made by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine at a meeting on October 21.

The Resolution of the Government allows the commissioning of the bypass route of the oil pipeline, built to minimize the risks of pollution of one of the largest water supply intakes in Lviv region and the Western region of Ukraine.

The Brody-State Border oil pipeline in this section runs along the Stryi river bed, approaching in some sections at a distance of up to 50 meters from the channel and partially passes within the second zone of sanitary protection of the Stryi fresh groundwater intake. Stryi water intake provides drinking water for more than 500 thousand water users in Lviv, Truskavets, Morshyn, Stryi and Drohobych. In case of damage to the oil pipeline in this section, there is a risk of oil escape and pollution of the river with oil getting into the under-channel structures of the water intake,” the message says.

For these reasons, in 2006 Ukrtransnafta decided to build a new section of the pipeline.

At the end of 2008, construction was stopped due to changes in land legislation, although construction and installation work was practically completed.

Commissioning was delayed for 10 years due to difficulties in registering ownership or use of land plots on which the new section of the pipeline was built.

The decision of the Government makes it possible to launch a new section and connect it to the existing Brody-State Border pipeline as soon as possible.

Earlier, Ukrtransnafta exposed two oil theft schemes.

Ранее сообщалось, что в конце сентября, «Укртранснафта» разоблачила две схемы хищения нефти.