OREANDA-NEWS  The Moscow Arbitration Court has stopped proceedings on the claim of Transneft against Rosneft for 2 billion rubles, according to the court file.

On November 20, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal stopped proceedings on Rosneft's complaint challenging the decision of the court of first instance, which at the end of 2022 denied the oil company a claim against Transneft for 3.4 billion rubles due to pollution on the Druzhba oil pipeline.

On May 23, 2022, Transneft received a claim from Rosneft for damages of 3.4 billion rubles related to the contamination of oil in the Druzhba oil pipeline in 2019 with organochlorine and a supply failure. The pipeline monopoly then noted that by April 2022 it had settled the consequences of the incident out of court with all shippers who were interested in it. Transneft insisted that Rosneft was aware of the requirements for the set and content of documents required for the out-of-court settlement of the consequences of the incident, since NK had already used this mechanism in relation to the volumes of contaminated oil delivered to Total, Trafigura and the Mozyr Refinery.

At the beginning of August 2022, Transneft filed a lawsuit against Rosneft for 2 billion rubles for non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of obligations under storage agreements.

The court closed the hearing of both lawsuits on the proposal of Rosneft to the listeners in order to protect information that could harm the state.

Oil contamination with organochlorine compounds was detected at the Mozyr refinery in Belarus on April 18, 2019. The transit of raw materials to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline has been suspended. Due to force majeure, deliveries to Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Ukraine and the Baltic states were disrupted. Transportation has been restored in all directions since June 9.

A reception point in the Samara region was named as the source of oil pollution.

Compensation for losses due to the situation at Druzhba was to be organized by Transneft. The company's board of Directors decided that it would reimburse the shippers for the damage caused by the supply interruption if they documented the losses. The council set the maximum amount of payments at $15 per barrel of substandard oil. For compensation payments, Transneft has created a reserve of 30 billion rubles. As of September 2021, the company used half of the reserved funds.

On August 31, 2023, Transneft filed a new lawsuit against Rosneft for 4.8 billion rubles. The Moscow Arbitration Court, which had planned a preliminary hearing on this dispute for November 15, postponed it to January 31, 2024.