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By Vladimir Soldatkin and Maria Grabar
MOSCOW, July 24 (Reuters) - Russian oil pipeline monopolyTransneft on Wednesday set a cap of $15 per barrelon compensation for contamination in its network, drawingscepticism from transit country Belarus and criticism from somebuyers that the offer was too low.
The contamination, first discovered in April in Belarus, ledto the stoppage of Russian oil exports via the 1 millionbarrels-per-day Druzhba pipeline and a reduction in oilproduction in Russia, one of the world's top producers of crude.
Buyers along the Druzhba pipeline to Germany, Poland,Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Czech Republicdiscovered chemicals in the oil. The Baltic port of Ust-Luga wasalso affected.
Those purchasers include trading firms and European majorssuch as Glencore, Total, Trafigura, BP, Eni and Royal Dutch Shell.
BP, Total, Glencore and Trafigura declined to comment onTransneft's announcement. Shell did not respond immediately to arequest for comment. Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in May thathis firm would seek compensation.
Pouyanne had said the costs of the contamination andeventual decontamination were still to be clarified.
"Who is going to pay for the decontamination? There is asignificant amount that is being mentioned, around $15 perbarrel. At the moment, everyone is looking at the other to findthe one who is responsible," Pouyanne said, answering questionsfrom shareholders in May.
President Vladimir Putin said the contamination had dealt ablow to Russia's reputation as a reliable supplier.
Three market sources familiar with the buyers of Russian oilsaid the compensation was too low.
Belarus called Transneft's statement a "one-sided" decision,signalling that the compensation offer may not be sufficient toend the row.
"This is not enough to compensate for the costs ofcontamination," one source said.
Another source with a buyer of Russian oil said thecompensation should be at least two times higher than thatoffered by Transneft.
"This is nonsense. The compensation should be higher anddepend on whether the oil was supplied by the pipeline or bysea," he said.
Poland's PKN Orlen said of Transneft's offer: "Inconnection with the contaminated Russian oil, we incurredcertain costs. We continue to estimate them. When we haveprecise calculations, we will ask suppliers for compensation."
A Polish government official also said Poland may need moreflexible oil supply and transmission contracts so it can respondmore quickly to potential crises such as the contamination ofRussian crude.
PROOF REQUIRED
Transneft said on Wednesday that claimants would have toprove they incurred damage from the contamination. Russia hasalso agreed to pay the same amount of compensation toKazakhstan.
The company also said in a regulatory statement it hadre-appointed Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak as itsboard chairman.
Under the compensation scheme, Transneft would pay damagesto Russian oil producers, which in turn would compensate thebuyers of its oil.
Russian oil producers Rosneft, Gazprom Neft, Russneft and Surgutneftegazdeclined immediate comment.
Lukoil referred to an interview in which itschief, Vagit Alekperov, said a discount of not more than $15 perbarrel would be fair compensation.
Up to 5 million tonnes (37 million barrels) of Russian oilfor export was found in April to be contaminated with organicchloride, a chemical used to help boost oil extraction but whichcan damage refining equipment.
Accordingly, the maximum compensation may total around $500million.(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Maria Grabar, OlesyaAstakhova and Alla Afanasyeva; additional reporting by BateFelix in Paris, Shadia Nasralla in London, Agnieszka Barteczkoin Warsaw and Andrei Makhovsky in Minsk; Editing by Dale Hudsonand Jason Neely)
