The largest global oil corporations, such as Shell, Eni, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies, were aware of discrepancies in sulfur storage at the Kashagan field long before Kazakhstan initiated official proceedings. This was reported by Bloomberg, citing internal documents and correspondence from participants in the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) project, as conveyed by Exclusive.kz.
According to the agency, the consortium's management has known about the sulfur accumulation issue at the Bolashak facility at least since 2016. In the following years, the companies discussed the associated risks, including the likelihood of fines, but did not take any action to resolve them.
In particular, in 2020, the operator proposed to start grinding and selling sulfur to reduce storage volumes and avoid sanctions, but this required additional financial investments in a project whose budget had already exceeded $55 billion.
Bloomberg notes that project participants compared the costs of processing and exporting sulfur with the risk of potential fines and concluded that environmental measures would negatively impact their profitability.
By 2022, the volume of accumulated sulfur at Kashagan reached 1.75 million tons. After conducting an environmental audit, the authorities of Kazakhstan filed claims against the consortium amounting to approximately $5 billion.
According to the Telegram channel Protenge.kz, commenting on Bloomberg's data raises the issue of a serious environmental threat to the Caspian Sea. Sulfur, released from crude oil, is a toxic substance, and its long-term storage in large volumes can pose a danger to the environment.
Protenge.kz also emphasizes the role of the national company KazMunayGas, which is involved in the project.
Bloomberg's materials mention that in 2020, KMG continued to formulate its position regarding proposals for sulfur processing, while other participants were already discussing possible steps.
The community raises important questions: Were oil companies effectively compelled to reduce sulfur storage volumes and remove it from the field? If so, what are the results? If not, why have no measures directly related to environmental safety been taken yet?
The situation with sulfur at Kashagan goes beyond corporate disagreements, calling into question compliance with environmental standards in Kazakhstan and the safety of the Caspian region.
