FACTBOX-Russian crude supply cut hits Europe refiners

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Supplies of Russian crude oil to refineries in Europe have halted following a stoppage on the Druzhba ('Friendship') export pipeline arising from a dispute between Russia and Belarus. [nL10261962]

Following is the latest from various refineries and the IEA:

IEA

Russia's halt of crude supplies has shaken the IEA's confidence in the world's second biggest oil exporter as a reliable energy supplier, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.

The IEA, adviser to industrialised countries, said European oil markets for now could handle an outage of supplies but it would order a coordinated release of stockpiles if stocks fall below 90 days of imports.

GERMANY

--Total

Total's refineries in Leuna continued to operate after supplies were halted in the night from Sunday to Monday, the company's spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

She also said the company bought one shipment of crude oil via Gdansk, Poland.

The refineries in Leuna receive about 10 million tonnes of crude oil per year through the Druzhba pipeline.

--Schwedt

Shell's PCK Raffinerie has bought crude oil via the German port of Rostock after supplies to its Schwedt refineries in Germany were halted, the company said on Tuesday.

It declined to say how many shipments of oil it had bought or where they had come from, but said that the tanker has an 80,000-tonne capacity.

The refineries in Schwedt, which source 11 million tonnes of crude oil per year through the Druzhba pipeline, account for about 10 percent of Germany's refinery capacity.

HUNGARY

Hungary has started technical preparations to reverse the southern Adria pipeline in order to supply the country and neighbouring Slovakia with crude if needed, Economy Minister Janos Koka said on Wednesday.

It will take 20-30 days to set up the pipeline and the first shipments can arrive in 10 days from order, Koka added.

Hungary's strategic reserves can cover domestic needs for over 90 days and Koka on Tuesday allowed freeing up 15,000 tonnes of crude a day from reserves for a period of one week.

POLAND

-- PKN Orlen

PKN Orlen's refinery in Plock was aproved to draw 200,000 tonnes of its mandatory reserves, the Polish economy ministry said on Wednesday.

It also said the company would be obliged to rebuild the reserves to the previously held level 45 days after oil supplies via Druzhba have been resumed.

-- Lotos Group

Lotos Group's refinery at Gdansk would maintain full output until mid-February by using its own crude reserves for the first two weeks and the country's strategic supplies after that.

Lotos said it would be able to cover its full crude supplies by sea should the disruption continue beyond mid-February.

SLOVAKIA

Slovakia-based oil refiner Slovnaft, a unit of Hungary's MOL , will process around 15,500 tonnes of oil a day from its own reserves by Friday, Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek told journalists after oil flow through the Druzhba pipeline was halted on Monday evening.

If oil supplies through Druzhba do not resume by then, Slovnaft will be allowed to borrow around 100,000 tonnes of oil from Slovak state reserves, while it will cut its daily processing amount to 11,200 tonnes, Jahnatek said.

Slovnaft said earlier it can also get crude oil via the southern pipeline Adria running through Hungary, but that it does not expect a long-lasting interruption of Druzhba supplies.

CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech Republic on Tuesday tapped a reserve of between 52,000 and 55,000 tonnes of crude oil stored in Slovakia, which will cover four days of its needs, officials said.

Czech Industry and Trade Minister Martin Riman said that, including strategic stocks, the country had in total reserves for 122.5 days.

He also said if Druzhba stoppage lasts, the Czechs could raise pumping through the IKL pipeline, which hooks up to the TAL pipeline system in Germany and the Italian port of Trieste.

This pipeline has an annual capacity of 10 million tonnes, which would fully cover Czech needs of around 8 million tonnes.

((London energy desk; editing by James Jukwey; agnieszka.flak@reuters.com; RM: agnieszka.flak.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: RUSSIA PIPELINE/FACTBOX

[Reuters/Finance.cz]