Druzhba pipeline

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Druzhba pipeline with proposed reversal

The Druzhba pipeline (нефтепровод Дружба) is the world's longest oil pipeline (the next longest being the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline). It was constructed in the USSR in 1964 to transport oil from central Russia to points west over a distance of some 4,000 km (2,500 miles). The name "Druzhba" means "friendship", alluding to the fact that the pipeline was intended to supply 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 pipeline begins in Samara in southeastern Russia, where it collects oil from western Siberia, the Urals, and the Caspian Sea. It runs to Mozyr in southern Belarus, where it splits into a northern and southern branch. The latter branch runs south into Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. The northern branch crosses the remainder of Belarus to reach Poland and Germany. There have recently been proposals to extend this branch to the German North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven, which would reduce oil tanker traffic in the Baltic Sea and make it easier to transport Russian oil to the United States.

The Druzhba pipeline currently has a capacity of 1.2 to 1.4 million barrels per day. Work is currently underway to increase this in the section between Belarus and Poland.

The Russian oil company Transneft is the pipeline's operator.

[edit] Druzhba Adria

This article or section contains information about a planned or expected pipeline.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the pipeline approaches, and more information becomes available.

The Druzhba-Adria Pipeline Integration Project is a proposal to extend the pipeline to pass through Hungary and Croatia to reach the Adriatic Sea, using the deep-water port Omišalj (on Krk).

In the first phase, the Croatian portion of the Adria pipeline will be reconstructed from the Sisak pumping station to Omišalj port. Croatian company JANAF has designed the initial project to reverse the Adria pipeline on the Sisak-Omišalj portion.

The proposal was touted by the Croatian president Stipe Mesić but it has also gathered a lot of negative press due to complaints from the environmentalist groups such as "Eko Kvarner".