Ukrainian Company Says Received $3.2Mln From Russia's Transneft Over Oil Quality Incident

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2019) UkrTransNafta, a Ukrainian oil transportation company, said Tuesday that Russia's Transneft had paid it 2.9 million Euros ($3.2 million) over an oil contamination incident in the Druzhba pipeline.

On July 31, UkrTransNafta said that it had already received more than 2.3 million euros over the Druzhba incident. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian company said that it had got additional 600,000 euros in compensation.

"As for the moment, UkrTransNafta received part of the compensation from Transneft � in the amount of more than 2.9 million euros � over the oil with exceess presence of organic chlorides that entered Ukraine's stretch of the Druzhba pipeline," the company said in a statement.

According to the company, the received funds allowed the company to cover the costs of the suspended oil transit in April-May.

The delivery of Russian oil to Eastern Europe through the Druzhba pipeline was temporarily halted in late April after it was discovered that the fuel was contaminated with organic chlorides. Clean oil supplies were restored in full on July 1.

Investigators suspect the tainted oil was poured into the pipeline by a group of individuals who wanted to cover up their theft of pure oil. Several people are currently being investigated as part of the case.