Reuters reveals illegally traded chemical halted Russian oil pipeline

Reuters was first to report the substance which contaminated Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline to the West in April as a lethal, illegally-traded, ozone-depleting chemical called carbon tetrachloride. The Reuters report shed light on the murky trade in the chemical and how it is used by some traders to bulk up expensive bona fide oil products in violation of Russian law and an international agreement to control its use. Russia, the world’s second-biggest oil exporter, lost more than $1 billion in revenue due to the more than month-long stoppage of the pipeline, which carries about 1% of the global supply of crude oil from Russia to refineries in eastern and central Europe.