Up to 350K litres of oil spilled in German pipeline leak

Between 250,000 and 350,000 litres of crude oil are believed to have spilled into the countryside north of Berlin following a pipeline leak in the German state of Brandenburg, state Environment Minister Hanka Mittelstädt said on Thursday, reported dpa.

Emergency forces had previously estimated that at least 200,000 litres had been released from the pipeline that runs from the Baltic Sea port city of Rostock to Schwedt following a work-related accident on Wednesday evening.

Emergency forces managed to seal the leak near the village of Gramzow early on Thursday after oil had leaked for hours, a spokesman for the regional emergency coordination said.

According to the refinery operator PCK, initial findings suggest the incident was caused by preparatory work for a planned safety test on the pipeline. Deliberate interference has been ruled out, it said.

The oil shot several metres into the air from a small leak at a pumping station and landed on farmland, the fire brigade said.

Alexander Trenn, head of the Schwedt fire brigade, told dpa that firefighters had removed the visible spillage, with all oil puddles gone by the time they left the site overnight.

Around 100 firefighters and 25 PCK employees were on site on Wednesday evening.

Special suction vehicles were deployed to collect the large quantity of oil, and crews worked with heavy machinery to contain the spread.

Next, samples will be taken examine whether groundwater, surface or deeper layers of soil have been compromised, Mittelstädt told dpa during a visit to the site.

More than two hectares of farmland - roughly the size of two football pitches - were doused with oil, she said.

The pipeline has temporarily been shut off, she added, but noted that the refinery's oil reserves in Schwedt are full.

Brandenburg state premier Dietmar Woidke said that fuel and heating oil supplies in Brandenburg and Berlin, which is surrounded by the state, have not been compromised.

Two of three PCK employees on site at the time of the spillage were splashed with oil, Vera Leu, director of the Gramzow district office told dpa. Both were treated by emergency services, but did not suffer any injuries or health issues, she said.

The PCK Schwedt refinery, located some 90 kilometres north-east of Berlin near the Polish border, supplies large parts of north-eastern Germany, including the capital, with petrol, heating oil, kerosene and chemical products.

It is owned by German subsidiaries of Russian state energy firm Rosneft, but following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 the German government placed Rosneft's subsidiaries under trusteeship and took control of the business.