THE LONGEST OIL PIPELINE IN THE WORLD 

Did you know that the Druzhba pipeline is the world's longest oil pipeline and one of the biggest oil pipeline networks in the world linking more than eight European countries?

The name "Druzhba" means "friendship", alluding to the fact that the pipeline supplied oil to the energy-hungry western regions of the Soviet Union, to its "fraternal socialist allies" in the former Soviet bloc, and to western Europe. Today, it is the largest principal artery for the transportation of Russian (and Kazakh) oil across Europe.

The Druzhba pipeline carries oil some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) from the eastern part of European Russia to points in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. The network also branches out into numerous pipelines to deliver its product throughout Eastern Europe and beyond.

On 18 December 1958, the 10th session of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), held in Prague, adopted a decision and an agreement was signed on construction of a trunk crude oil pipeline from the USSR into Poland, Czechoslovakia, GDR and Hungary.

The construction of the initially proposed 5,327 kilometres (3,310 mi) long pipeline commenced in 1960. Each country was to supply all necessary construction materials, machinery and equipment. Czechoslovakia received first oil in 1962, Hungary in September 1963, Poland in November 1963, and the GDR in December 1963. The whole pipeline was put into operation in October 1964. 

The first oil pumped through the Druzhba pipeline originated from the oil fields in Tatarstan and Samara (Kuybyshev) Oblast. In the 1970s, the Druzhba pipeline system was further enlarged with the construction of geographically parallel lines.

Among the numerous controversies, in February 2020, Belarus threatened to take oil from the Druzhba pipeline if Russia did not supply it with the required volumes of crude oil. Russian oil supplies to Belarus have not been agreed for 2020 and shipments have dwindled to 500,000 tonnes, down from a planned 2 million tonnes. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Moscow hinted at an energy supply deal in exchange for Belarus merging with Russia, which caused talks to collapse

On February 18, 2022 an explosion of a gas pipeline was reported in Verhunka, near Luhansk, shortly before the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The explosion has interrupted the gas delivery to Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany. Ukraine and Russia accused each other of causing the sabotage.

Image Credit: Intellinews

Source:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druzhba_pipeline