Oil spill detected in the Caspian Sea, suspected causes named
Kyiv • UNN
A drifting oil slick with an area of about 7 square kilometers was found in the Caspian Sea near the Kashagan oil field.
Drifting oil slick, an area of about 7 square kilometers was found in the Caspian Sea, near the field "Kashagan". This is written in Facebook Galina Chernova, head of the environmental and legal center "Globus", referring to the data of the space monitoring group, reports UNN.
Details
A serious oil spill was discovered in the Caspian Sea, in the territory adjacent to the Kashagan oil field. The incident is attributed to the results of the activities of NCOC (North Caspian Operating Company - a company engaged in the implementation of the project for the development of offshore oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan).
According to the group carrying out this space monitoring "the radar image of the European satellite Sentinel-1A from 30.04 (02:43 UTC) showed a spill near the Kazakhstani oil field and oil production site "Kashagan". Questions to NCOC: what happened at your offshore complex, who allowed this spill and how was this incident handled?
According to the information available at the moment, the formation of the drifting oil slick is attributed to the following causes:
1) accidental or accidental oil spill during production,
2) discharge of production waters containing petroleum products that must be retained and transported onshore for disposal,
3) there may have been an accident with the service vessels that allowed this spill to occur.
Earlier, at public hearings on the operation of the offshore complex, representatives of the oil company promised not to allow the pollution of either the air or the sea area, Chernova writes.
On March 29, NCOC held public hearings in Damba village on the operation of the company's marine complex. The company managers answered to all the questions that sounded in the hall from the participants of the hearings and through the Zoom-platform that the company does not allow air or sea area pollution: in the reports and presentations of NCOC specialists and project developers it was reported that the company strives for "zero" emissions and discharges into the environment of our region. But is it so! The spill from space speaks eloquently of something quite different
Kazakh edition Lada.kz asked for comments to the press service of the oil company NCOC and the Department of Ecology of Atyrau region of Kazakhstan.
The NCOC said they are preparing information; the Department of Ecology told the Lada reporter that they are carrying out the necessary measures on the incident.
Recall
An emergency leak of oil mixture occurred from an oil pipeline near the village of Pobeda, Akhtyrsky district, Sumy region, resulting in the contamination of a land plot of 98 square meters.
Oil prices fell due to an increase in U.S. crude oil inventories and expectations of possible inaction by OPEC+ on its production policy, leading to profit taking after a strong rally in mid-March.
