Export security

Who contaminated the petroleum supply in the Druzhba pipeline and caused Russian oil exports to be unusable for weeks? ‘Meduza’ investigates.

On May 7, a court in the Russian city of Samara ordered four suspects in the contamination of the Druzhba oil pipeline to be jailed for two months. The transport of petroleum through Druzhba for export out of Russia was practically brought to a halt on April 20 due to a large batch that was contaminated with organic chloride compounds. Russia’s losses are estimated at half a billion dollars, and energy companies have been asked to decrease their petroleum production by 10 percent until May 7. The head of Transneft, the state-owned monopoly in charge of the Russian portion of the pipeline, told Vladimir Putin that the contamination was a result of “diversion”: in other words, that a private company in Samara Oblast intentionally transferred contaminated petroleum into the pipeline. Meduza learned that Transneft itself evidently allowed a situation to take shape in which unknown manufacturers have been able to add petroleum to Druzhba by the cistern. Since the end of 2018, one junction in the pipeline system has been entirely uncontrolled because its previous owner was largely bought out by Absolut Bank, which divided the property among multiple nominal owners. Those owners were ultimately the ones who landed in a pretrial detention center in the contamination case.

Export security

Putin flags wider investigation into contaminated Russian oil

Russia’s pipeline monopoly Transneft is investigating a case of contaminated oil, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday, adding that this could lead to a wider inquiry, possibly including law enforcement agencies.
Poland, Germany, Ukraine and some other countries suspended imports of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline this week due to the contamination. Russia said it plans to restore the pipeline to Europe to stability in two weeks.
“I am aware of what happened, but the details are unknown to me because in order to understand what happened there one needs to conduct an investigation,” Putin told reporters in Beijing, adding that he briefly exchanged views on the case with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The problem arose last week when an unidentified Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride, which is typically used to boost oil output but which must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered the energy and trade ministries to conduct an inquiry within seven days and prepare proposals on how to avoid a repeat, Interfax news agency reported, citing a government statement which said the results should be sent to the prosecutor’s office.

Export security

U.S. Woman Sentenced in Plot to Smuggle Fighter Jet Engines to China

Prosecutors say evidence shows that between March of 2011 and June of 2013, Man conspired with a contact in China named Zhang Xinsheng to send equipment that included engines used in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, the F-16 fighter jet, and the MQ-9 Reaper/Predator B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

Man described Zhang as a "technology spy" who worked on behalf of the Chinese military to copy items obtained from other countries, and stated that he was particularly interested in stealth technology, according to the statement.

In May, the U.S. defense department released a report on military and security developments involving China that said Beijing is using extensive cyber and human espionage to acquire foreign military technology.

Export security

China Attempts To Get Fighter Engines, UAV

China attempted to acquire advanced US fighter aircraft engines and a UAV, according to US Federal Court documents unsealed last week.

A Chinese man and woman attempted to acquire and export to China the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper UAV, the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine used on the F-35 stealth fighter, the P&W F119 engine used on the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, and the General Electric F110 engine used on the F-15 and F-16 fighters.

The woman was born in China and became a US citizen in 2006, where she was vice president of the family-run AFM Microelectronics Corp. in San Diego. The company made advanced capacitors for export,  though there is little on the company website to indicate an interest in military equipment. She was arrested Sept. 1, but the man remains a “fugitive” and is believed to be in China. The two allegedly made efforts to secure the shipment of the defense items via one of three countries: Hong Kong, Israel and South Korea.