The Ecology Department of the Atyrau Region conducted 19 inspections for compliance with environmental legislation and identified 41 violations. 98 administrative cases were initiated against the companies.
According to the press service of the Regional Communication Service, the inspections also covered the companies LLP "Atyrau Oil Refinery" (AOR), "North Caspian Operating Company N.V." (NCOC) and JSC "Caspian Oil".
_________________
For reference: "North Caspian Operating Company" is involved in the implementation of the North Caspian project for the development of the Kazakh offshore oil and gas fields Kashagan, Kairan and Aktoty. The Republic of Kazakhstan and an international consortium signed the Production Sharing Agreement for the North Caspian (PSA) in November 1997.
"During the inspection, facts of violation of the environmental legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan by "North Caspian Operating Company N.V." In particular, the environmental protection action plan was not implemented in full and was not timely. There was also a discharge of wastewater without treatment and with deviations from the standards. In addition, the requirements contained in the conclusion of the state environmental expert review were not met", the statement reads.
For such violations, NCOC was fined more than 12 billion tenge. The funds were fully collected and returned to the state.
In addition, violations were identified at LLP "AOR" and JSC "Caspian Oil". The enterprises were fined, but the amount was not disclosed.
In turn, media report that an inspection is planned at the Atyrau Oil Refinery due to the shutdown of one of its units.
"On September 4 at 21:30, the butene oligomerisation unit at the AOR was shut down due to a leak in the reboiler E-1604. To prevent an emergency situation, the unit's fuel network was directed to the flare system. Currently, work is underway at the plant to clarify the circumstances of the incident in detail. Furthermore, work is being done to restart production operations. An inspection into this matter will be appointed by the Ecology Department for the Atyrau Region", the statement reads.
It will be recalled that the operator of the Kashagan field, the company NCOC, previously lost a court case regarding the results of an environmental inspection at the field.
The Ecology Department found that NCOC was storing 1 million 750 thousand tonnes of sulphur against an allowed 730 thousand tonnes. In addition, numerous other environmental violations were also identified during the inspection. The total amount of environmental fines was 2.3 trillion tenge ($5.1 billion).
Later, NCOC appealed to the court in Astana, which overturned 3 of the 10 fines. However, neither party was satisfied with the partial satisfaction of the claim. NCOC reported that the company operates in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The Ministry of Ecology, in turn, filed an appeal against the ruling. The court's appellate division upheld the legality of the fines, rejecting the arguments put forward by the NCOC consortium.