About the disagreements between the general director of the Atyrau Oil Refinery (AOR) Galymzhan Zhussanbayev and the plant's employees, which have been ongoing since February, reporters have reported. It is noted that the fate of the plant may depend on how this conflict of interest is resolved.
According to ORDA, on 30 October, due to serious violations, the dark oil products loading rack at the AOR, through which fuel oil and gas oil leave the plant, was shut down.
The outdated equipment had long been slated for replacement, but plant workers claim that Zhussanbayev wants to use the situation for his own gain.
"The rack is very old, built in 1945. During modernisation, it was planned to be closed and a new one built. But that didn't happen, and it continues to operate. It has been closed several times at the request of the prosecutor's office, then reopened. This time, the general director has a personal interest in the rack not working. The transport prosecutor's office sent a demand to rectify the violations and gave a deadline of 30 October. But it's unrealistic to fix the violations in that time, and Zhussanbayev himself doesn't want to do it", one AOR employee said.
It is reported that as part of the modernisation, the dark oil products loading rack was to be dismantled, and the light oil products loading rack repurposed for loading fuel oil.
For their part, AOR workers claim that the general director wants to transfer the transportation of fuel oil to a tank farm under his control, LLP "Petro Export".
"Closing the rack will allow Zhussanbayev to redirect all fuel oil from the AOR to his enterprise, in a bypass mode. For the first time in the plant's history, the general director himself has no interest in developing it. Ideally, of course, a new rack needs to be built — the old one is ancient; no matter how much you repair it, it won't get better. But previously, plant managers were at least interested in its operation, and now they are not", said perplexed AOR employees.
It is reported that currently, the official founder of LLP "Petro Export" is listed as Abdikerim Makhanbetov. At the same time, it has become known that several years ago the company was managed by Galymzhan Zhussanbayev.
"On the territory of the old chemical plant, there is a dark oil products loading rack belonging to the company Petro Export. That is Zhussanbayev's company. A pipe from the AOR goes to that rack. When I spoke with Zhussanbayev, he mentioned this and wanted the fuel oil to be shipped specifically through that rack", said one former plant employee.
It is noted that using such a shipping scheme, the fuel oil could be mixed with other oil products and then sold under the guise of crude oil.
"This is effectively about document forgery. And Zhussanbayev openly outlined this scheme. There is a second similar scheme. Mr. Zhussanbayev proposed shipping heavy reformate as hydrocarbon feedstock, aromatic hydrocarbons which are not subject to excise duty. In this way, up to 150,000 tonnes could be shipped, but that's fraud", a former AOR employee claims.
According to plant employees, the disagreement between them and Zhussanbayev has been dragging on since winter, and now the general director is putting pressure on them. Several senior employees have already left the enterprise or transferred to other positions, not wanting to participate in the conflict.
"The other day, the chief technologist Kanat Rauken resigned — he went to a chemical polypropylene production plant. No one has been properly appointed in his place, only a temporary acting one. The acting chief engineer Askar Yermyshev — Zhussanbayev's man — also resigned on Sunday, 27 October, and asked to be returned to the position of workshop head, because it's calmer for him there. That is, even those close to the general director cannot stand working with him. And these are, incidentally, key positions. Currently, the AOR is trying to return to normal operation after repairs, and things are not going very well so far", a current plant employee said.
Reporters have sent a request to LLP "AOR" to obtain official responses from the plant's management regarding the employee complaints that have come to the publication's attention.