44 / 72
its subsidiaries, carried out a merger of EmbaMunayGaz (EMG) and
UzenMunayGaz in Mangistau. It is quite possible that the post-merger
KazMunayGaz Prospecting and Production Company simply disposed of
useless abandoned fields, now under the authority of the ministry. But
is not clear which agency is in charge of the fields where an accident
may occur at any time, killing many representatives of the unique
Caspian flora and fauna.
In March 2004 the Kazakhstan Offshore Oil Safety Inspectorate sent an
enquiry to oil companies whose fields include submerged wells. The
reply from EMG was that it had no such wells in its oil fields. But
the inspectorate knew that there had been four flooded fields with at
least a hundred wells in the territory under EMG’s control, with many
of those wells submerged for over 17 years.
The spill at Pribrezhnoye was first recorded in December 2003. However
because of thin ice cover, characteristic of the North Caspian’s
shallow waters, special facilities were needed to stop it at the
time. The Atyrau regional authorities sent a letter asking for the
necessary funds to Vladimir Shkolnik, Minister of Energy and Mineral
Resources. Of course no money was allocated to Atyrau. And that
was only the start of a long ordeal. Among those to whom Atyrau’s
environmental protection department appealed were the government-
owned KazCaspianShelf Company, the international consortium AgipKCO,
and even the Russian Astrakhan Naval Flotilla. It should be pointed
out that back in 2001 when oil was spilt at the Southwest Tazhigali
oilfield, it was AgipKCO that helped the region, even though it was in
no way the group’s responsibility. This time, however, AgipKCO did not
allocate any resources. In fact, nothing whatsoever was done during
the three winter months.
In spring 2004 the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources invited
bids for oil spill prevention and elimination. Almaz, a little known
innovation firm won the tender. But to everyone’s surprise Pribrezhnoye
was not on the list of oilfields where wells were to be urgently
suspended. As the contractor was appointed the oil spots kept floating
serenely on the surface of the sea. Almaz has still not even obtained
all the necessary permits to start work on the submerged oilfields. So
there is no knowing if any spill-prevention action will be taken in
the hazardous area.
44