OREANDA-NEWS. On September 21, 2007 Tub-Karagan Operating Company B.V. has held the environmental hearings on assessment of the environmental impact of electrical exploration activities with the use of the differential normalized method on the Tub-Karagan offshore block in Aktau, the administrative center of Mangistau Region, Republic of Kazakhstan, reported the press-centre of LUKOIL Overseas.

Tub-Karagan Operating Company B.V. is the operating company of the project and a joint venture of KazMunaiTeniz (subsidiary of KazMunaiGaz) and LUKOIL Overseas.

Representatives of governmental and municipal bodies, industrial and research organizations, educational institutions as well as the representatives of public associations and non-governmental organizations of the Mangistau Region took part in the hearings.   The purpose of this event was to familiarize the public with the electric exploration activities that the company plans to carry out on the Tub-Karagan block this year and the degree of their impact on the environment.

Electrical exploration is planned to be carried out on 6 axial sections with the total length of 250 linear kilometers worked out in 2006. The purpose is to identify and delineate hydrocarbon prospects. The main factors of exposure on the nature are the oscillation of impulse electric fields and the execution of auxiliary operations.

The survey will be accompanied by the ecological monitoring in a strict compliance with the environmental legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, health, safety and environment policy of the company as well as on the basis of the best international practice in this area.

As a result of the public hearings, the environmental impact of electrical exploration is assessed as minimal and comparable to natural processes. The residential areas and Seals’ Islands archipelago are not in the area impacted by the survey. Removal of industrial and domestic waste onshore and its subsequent delivery to specialized waste disposal contractors will allow to minimize possible risks of the Caspian Sea pollution.

The Production Sharing Agreement on the project was signed in Astana on December 29, 2003, with the duration of 40 years. Tub-Karagan area, with the size of 1,372 square kilometers, is located in the central part of Kazakhstan's sector of the Caspian Sea. The distance from the center of the area to the nearest port of Bautino is 40 kilometers.