The largest global pipeline networks of oil spans across Eastern Europe with operations beginning 60 years ago.
The ginormous Druzhba oil pipeline is the world’s largest, also branching out into numerous other pipelines to deliver its product beyond its line of network.
Carrying the substance throughout Almetyevsk in Tatarstan, Russia it branches off to Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Germany.
The Russian owned pipeline has the capacity to carry 1.4 million barrels per day, stretching across 2,485 miles.
The grand infrastructure project began in the Russian heartland of Almetyevsk, where the line begins, as it collects oil from western Siberia, the Urals and the Caspian Sea.
The line continues to southern Belarus where it then splits into a northern and southern branch. The former runs through Poland to Germany and the latter section passes through Ukraine, Slovakia and terminates in the Czech Republic.
‘Druzbha’ is a Russian word translated to ‘friendship’. The name is derived from the fact the pipelines supplied oil from the (then) Soviet Union to its ally countries.
Construction plans for the project began in 1958 when the 10th session of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), was held in Prague. By 1960, building had begun, with each country responsible for their own section. The pipeline then became a property of that individual country.
The pipes for the line were manufactured in the Soviet Union and Poland with valves and fittings made in Slovakia. Germany delivered the pumps, Hungary provided automation and communications equipment.
The ‘friendship pipeline’ cost a staggering 400m rubles (£3.1m) to build. Major reconstruction of the earth took place with more than 15m cubic metres of earth being moved to lay down 730,000 tons of pipe. Crossing 45 major rivers, 200 railways and roads, the project was completed by October 1964.
In the 1970s the Druzhba pipeline system was further enlarged with the construction of geographically parallel lines.
Work is constantly underway to this day on the line, with the aim to increase the section between Belarus and Poland – there has also been proposals to extend the line to other countries.
