Oil spill detected in Caspian Sea near Kashagan oil field

Environmentalists will take samples at the oil spill site in the Kashagan field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, Report informs via the Kazakh telegraph agency.

If a spill is confirmed, the Department of Ecology for the Atyrau Region of Kazakhstan will conduct an unscheduled inspection of NCOC (North Caspian Operating Company).

Previously, an inspection stated that NCOC had established facts of violations of environmental requirements, including the combustion of sulfur dioxide without permission, and the discharge of production water into the Caspian Sea without treatment. On March 29, the company was fined 12.4 billion tenge ($27.7 million).

Earlier, Galina Chernova, executive director of the Globus Center for Environmental and Legal Initiative, reported that an oil slick with an area of about 7 sq. km drifted to the north of the Caspian Sea from Kashagan.