Two industry sources told Reuters on Monday that Russia's oil production continued to decline this month as pollution was found in April's Druzhba pipeline to Europe, leading to a decline in exports.
In April, about 5 million tons of oil were contaminated by organic chlorides. The contaminated oil is currently stuck in Belarus and more westward pipelines through Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
Russia has managed to remove about 2 million tons of contaminated oil from its pipeline system and reached an agreement with Belarus last week to recover another 1 million tons.
Oil exports from Russia through Transneft (TRNF_p.MM) pipelines, including Druzhba, fell by 6% from April's average, two industry insiders told Reuters on Monday.
Sources said that Russia's daily oil production during the period was 11.26 million barrels, down from 11.47 million barrels on May 21.
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