Delivery of crude oil by Friendship oil pipeline (Druzhba) ruptured by a construction vehicle on the outskirts of Budapest on Tuesday morning is likely to be resumed next Monday, ournalists were told by Dora Somlyai, a spokeswoman of oil group MOL, according to ITAR-TASS.
The pipeline was shut off after oil spurted more than ten metres from the pipeline, contaminating an area with a diameter of 300 metres. The affected area has been surrounded by sand and spilt oil will be cleaned up by the fire services. Mol said the fire service unit of its Szazhalombatta refinery will mop up the excess oil. Police have closed off an area next to the M0 ring road around the capital because of the danger of an explosion.
The Friendship (Druzhba) oil pipeline is the world's longest, its 4,000 kilometres stretching from southeast Russia to Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, and Germany. The ruptured pipeline was Friendship I. and it operated under a pressure of 7 bars, resulting in a spill of hundreds of cubic metres of oil.