UPDATE 1-Russia's Transneft expects to complete tainted oil payments by mid-2021

(Recasts, adds detail)

By Vladimir Soldatkin and Oksana Kobzeva

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Russian oil pipeline monopoly
Transneft said on Monday it expected to complete
compensation payments for contaminated oil by around mid-2021
and that it had already paid out over $143 million, more than
half of what is due.

Up to 5 million tonnes of tainted oil was sent to central
Europe via the Druzhba pipeline last year, in one of the most
serious crises ever to hit Russian energy exports.

Organic chlorides were found in Urals crude export flows in
late April last year, and Transneft has committed to paying the
compensation for the losses stemming from the incident.

State-owned Transneft has already paid some compensation to
companies from Kazakhstan, as well as to French energy giant
Total and Hungary's MOL.

Maxim Grishanin, Transneft's chief financial officer, told a
conference call with the investors on Monday that the company
had paid $143.6 million tonnes in compensation.

"This, according to our estimates, is more than a half. We
hope to settle significant volumes (of payments) by the year-end
so, on the whole, the work will end by approximately the middle
of the next year," he said.

Belarus, Russia's large oil buyer, is yet to receive
compensation. Belarusian energy company Belneftekhim has said it
was expecting over $61 million in compensation for the 563,000
tonnes of contaminated oil it received, according to Interfax
news agency.

That translates roughly to $15 per barrel, the highest
possible level of compensation expected from Transneft.

Transneft's Grishanin also said the company expected oil
flows via its system, which transports more than 80% of all
Russia's oil, to reach 440-450 million tonnes next year, on a
par with 2020.

The volumes will depend on how the deal among leading oil
global producers, the OPEC+ group, unfolds next year, he added.

Grishanin said the finance ministry was currently working on
a dividend policy for the state-owned companies, including
Transneft, which had to cut their investments and saw profits
plummet due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Oksana Kobzeva; Editing by
Louise Heavens and Pravin Char)