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13 января 2025
Paolo Sorbello, photo from Mangistaumunaigaz

Mangistaumunaigaz Fined $60 Million for Environmental Damages

The company violated its emission limits twice in December last year

Mangistaumunaigaz Fined $60 Million for Environmental Damages

The Mangistau Prosecutor’s Office said on January 13 it had fined oil company Mangistaumunaigaz for a total of 32.2 billion tenge ($60 million) for environmental violations in December last year.

Headquartered in Aktau, the capital of the Mangistau region, Mangistaumunaigaz is owned by the flagship oil company Kazmunaigas and China’s CNPC via a Netherlands-registered company, Mangistau Investments B.V. It operates several fields in the region in Kazakhstan’s west.

The Prosecutor’s Office said in a release that inspections revealed that the company discharged wastewater into the subsoil and also accumulated drilling waste beyond the allocated quota. A separate inspection also revealed that emissions from oil heating furnaces at Mangistaumunaigaz exceeded the established standards.

Kazakhstan’s oil and gas producing regions are prone to environmental violations and massive pollution. The Mangistau region was the infamous protagonist of the largest methane emission from an infrastructure accident ever documented in 2023.