Polish pipeline operator Pern said late on Saturday August 5 it had detected a leak on the Druzhba pipeline that carries oil from Russia to Europe, and it suspended crude oil supplies via the affected line.
The company said it found a leak close to the central Polish city of Plock on one of the two lines of the west section of the Druzhba pipeline, which carries oil from Russia to Germany.
"At present, all available services are on-site attempting to locate the reason for the leakage," the company said in a statement.
Pern also said the second line of the pipeline works as usual and that there is no threat to the environment or people.
The company did not say if the leak had an effect on supplies or when the leak could be fixed. It added that it was launching an investigation to determine the cause of the incident.
The Druzhba pipeline, which in Russian means "friendship", is one of the world's largest pipeline systems and it has a capacity of up to 1 million barrels per day, or some 7 percent of global crude demand.
It supplies Russian oil to refineries in Belarus, Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
