As Europe remains on high alert regarding its energy security, Poland said on Wednesday that a leak in one of the Druzhba pipelines carrying oil from Russia to Europe that affected supplies to Germany was almost certainly the result of an accident.


Following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which cut off gas supplies in a protracted standoff, Europe is currently experiencing a severe energy crisis. The discovery of the leak in the main route carrying oil to Germany, which operator PERN said it found on Tuesday evening, comes during this time.

When asked about the possibility of sabotage, Mateusz Berger, Poland's top official in charge of energy infrastructure, told Reuters over the phone, "Here we can talk about accidental damage.

Although he continued, "We are living in turbulent times, different connotations are possible, but at this point we have absolutely no reason to believe that."

Since significant leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines connecting Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea were discovered last month, Europe has been on high alert regarding the security of its energy infrastructure. Sabotage has been charged by both the West and Russia.

The largest refinery in Poland, owned by PKN Orlen, is located in Plock, which is 70 kilometres (44 miles) to the west of the leak, according to Berger. He added that the repairs would probably "not take long" and that as a result, some of the shipping capacity towards Germany was not available.

While PERN claimed that supplies to Germany were reduced but continued, Joerg Steinbach, the economy minister of the German state of Brandenburg, told news agency DPA that a drop in pressure had been noticed.


GERMAN, POLAND REFINERY SUPPLIES

One of the biggest oil pipelines in the world, the Druzhba oil pipeline—whose name means "friendship" in Russian—supplies Russian oil to a large portion of central Europe, including Germany, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Austria.

According to the state-owned pipeline monopoly Transneft in Russia, oil is still being pumped in the direction of Poland.

While a representative for the Czech pipeline operator MERO claimed that it had not observed any changes in flows to the Czech Republic, Poland's PKN Orlen (PKN.WA) claimed that oil supplies to its Plock refinery had not been interrupted.

According to fire brigade spokesman Karol Kierzkowski, "the main action (we are taking) is to pump out the liquid and find the leak and stop it.

He added that it was too early to determine the cause and that there was no danger to the general public, but that the leak would stop when the pressure dropped and allow them to locate it.

Approximately 400 cubic metres of oil and water were pumped from the leak site, which was in the middle of a cornfield, according to fire fighters in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region.

According to PERN, the second line of the pipeline and other components of its infrastructure were operating normally.

The operator stated that all PERN services (technical, operational, internal fire brigade, and environmental protection) are currently acting in accordance with the provided algorithms for this kind of situation.

The western portion of the pipeline, which transports crude oil from central Poland to Germany, has an annual capacity of 27 million tonnes.

Druzhba is especially important to Germany's Schwedt refinery, which supplies 90% of Berlin's fuel. The refinery did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Under EU sanctions, the German government plans to stop importing oil from Russia by the end of the year. But for the first seven months of the year, just over 30% of its oil imports came from Russia, which remained its top supplier.

The federal network regulator and the economy ministry of Germany were not immediately available for comment.

Druzhba could be crucial in supplying oil via the Polish port in Gdansk as Germany searches for substitute supplies for Schwedt.

The German government has also discussed obtaining oil from Kazakhstan to supply Schwedt, but this oil would also need to travel through the Druzhba pipeline in order to reach Germany.