Crude oil transit via Ukraine shrinks by 40% over lower demand

General Director of Ukrtransnafta Mykola Havrylenko says crude oil transit to Eastern Europe through Ukraine has shrunk by 40% due to falling consumer demand.

"In May, we see a decrease in oil transit by a very considerable amount for us. We usually pump about 1.3 million tonnes per month. However, in May, we received an order for around 750,000 tonnes. That is, oil flow volume for factories in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary has been slashed by 40%," he told encorr.

Havrylenko added that Belarus had not yet placed an order for crude oil transit via Ukrainian pipelines in May.

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As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrtransnafta, in 2019 boosted crude oil transportation by 0.5% from 2018, to 15.51 million tonnes.

UNIAN memo. Ukrtransnafta operates Ukraine's crude oil transport system. It manages 18 oil pipelines that are 4,569 km long. It also operates 51 oil pumping stations and 11 crude storage facilities whose total capacity is 1.01 million cubic meters. Some 176 pumping units with the capacity of electric motors being 357 GW ensure the operation of the oil pumping stations.