Belarus to seek $435 million in damages over Druzhba oil pipeline contamination

Belarus is likely to demand a compensation from Russia in amount between $271.3 million and $435.3 million for for the contamination incident on the Druzhba oil pipeline, reports the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti. 
 
Russia may lose up to $3 billion as a result of the damages. 

The estimation calculated by Russian experts includes the loss of anticipated revenue by the Belarusian company Gomeltransit-Druzhba for the transit of crude oil to the EU during 14 days of suspended operation ($29-35 million), the anticipated losses in revenues due to the reduction of the putthrough capacity of the pipeline from 65 down to 40 million tons a year ($142-300 million by the end of 2019) and the damages  caused by the forced halt of output by the Belarusian refineries (up to $280 million).

The problems with the quality of Russian crude oil began on 20 April when Belarus said that Russian oil was contaminated with chlorides. The contamination damaged expensive equipment at the refinery in Mazyr. Shortly afterwards, Ukraine, Slovakia, Germany and Poland refused from importing the contaminated Russian oil.