Baku, Azerbaijan, September 6
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Accumulation of significant volume of oil waste in Kazakhstan’s Mangystau region is one of the key ecological problems of the country, Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of Kazakhstan Magzum Mirzagaliyev said, Trend reports with reference to the press office of the ministry.
The minister made the statement during the meeting on development of oil and gas sector in Atyrau city, where he named main ecological problems of the country caused by the operations of oil and gas companies, as well as the ways to solve them.
“This problem had not been addressed in decades. Three weeks ago the ministry and KazMunayGas National Company signed a memorandum, in accordance to which the company is to recycle the waste by 2023,” the minister said.
Prevention of pollution of groundwater deposit Kokzhide is another goal of the ministry.
“The Kokzhide deposit is unique and can meet the demand of residents of West Kazakhstan. Currently, intensive work is carried out within the deposit. There are risks of polluting the source of drinking water,” Mirzagaliyev clarified.
The government has allocated funds to conduct research on Kokzhide. According to the minister, over the course of three years, the reassessment of groundwater deposits will be conducted, the shape of the deposit will be outlined and the real environmental impact will be assessed. The ministry will also increase the control and monitoring of oil and gas activities.
Another ecological problem is the implementation of water recycling.
“Average volume of water recycling of oil companies is 30-40 percent. We are setting the target to increase the indicator to 70 percent by 2025,” the minister said.
He added that in order to solve these problems, a completely new environmental code is being developed. It is currently being actively discussed with the public. It is expected that the code will be submitted to the parliament by the end of 2019.
---
Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh