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Mozyr Oil Refinery gets $14m as first tranche of Russian compensation for polluted oil

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MINSK, 22 January (BelTA) – The Russian company Lukoil has paid the equivalent of about $14 million to Mozyr Oil Refinery as the first tranche of the compensation for the polluted oil the Belarusian company received in 2019, BelTA learned from representatives of Mozyr Oil Refinery.

According to the source, within the framework of the agreements concerning Mozyr Oil Refinery Russian companies have started the process of compensation for the Urals oil blend with a high content of chlorinated organics that was delivered in spring 2019. On 21 January 2021 Mozyr Oil Refinery received RUB1,045 million from PAO Lukoil as the first tranche. The sum is the equivalent of about $14 million.

The total compensation is supposed to be close to $60 million.

BelTA reported earlier that on 19 April 2019 the Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim registered a massive decrease in the quality of the Russian oil mixture Urals coming via the oil pipeline system Druzhba. The concentration of chlororganic compounds in oil exceeded standard thresholds dozens of times over. A number of countries stopped taking and refining Russian oil as a result. Both Belarusian oil refineries – OAO Naftan and Mozyr Oil Refinery – were forced to reduce their workload and suffered financial losses. Damage was also caused to the pipeline system.

In February 2020 Belarus and Russia signed a protocol on the compensation for polluted oil. Back then Belneftekhim expected a compensation of $15 per barrel or over $61 million in total due to Mozyr Oil Refinery having to process 563,000 tonnes of polluted oil.

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