Water protection
KMG’s core business is concentrated in Central Asia, a region where water is a precious and scarce resource. We recognise our responsibility to society and the environment and are making every effort to ensure efficient use of water resources.
On 1 July 2019, KMG made an official commitment to contribute to water conservation efforts in Kazakhstan. At an HSE forum held for CEOs of KMG Group companies, Alik Aidarbayev, Chairman of KMG’s Management Board, signed a personal Statement of Commitment to efficient water management (KMG’s eight water-related principles). His initiative was backed up by the CEOs of KMG subsidiaries and associates, who signed similar statements of commitment on behalf of their respective companies. These signed statements have been made available on the official websites of KMG Group companies.
The statements set out KMG’s key principles for water use, the eight water-related principles, structure the water management approach used by KMG subsidiaries and associates, and enhance the commitment to fresh water conservation among KMG’s management and employees.
Projects are underway to curb discharges and reduce fresh water withdrawal from natural sources.
Atyrau Refinery
One of the major ongoing environmental initiatives of Atyrau Refinery, the Tazalyq project, includes an upgrade of mechanical and biological wastewater treatment facilities, the construction of an advanced treatment facility, and the upgrade of evaporation fields.
The water treatment facilities upgrade will enable us to reduce fresh water withdrawal from the Ural River, as the refinery will use a multi-stage wastewater treatment system that removes up to 99% of pollutants, thus allowing the refinery to multiply the volume of its water reuse and return up to 50% of treated wastewater back into the process. The project will allow to stop using evaporation fields and prevent further impacts on Atyrau’s groundwater, flora, fauna, and air. The project is expected to be completed in the late 2023. Water withdrawal from the Ural River will be reduced by 38%.
Construction of desalination plants near the Kenderly recreational zone, Mangystau Region
OzenMunaiGas and KMG Engineering signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation with the Akimat of Zhanaozen. The memorandum reclassifies the desalination plant feasibility study being prepared by KMG Engineering as a social project as per the official instruction by Askar Mamin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, dated 18 September 2019.The KMG-funded desalination plant project is planned to be constructed near the Kenderly recreational zone in the Mangystau Region. Its planned capacity is 50,000 m3 per day.
JSC Karazhanbasmunai
Given the lack of fresh water sources near the Karazhanbas field and Karazhanbasmunai’s need in large volumes of water to generate steam for thermal recovery, the company faced water shortages and, hence, the threat of declining oil production and related financial losses.
The construction and installation of Karazhanbasmunai’s desalination plant in the Mangystau Region commenced in September 2019 and is currently nearing completion. The desalination plant is designed to recycle and reuse formation water and provide process water to improve recovery from the Karazhanbas reservoirs by steam injection.
The plant project is mission critical for the Company as it will not only provide desalinated water for steam generation but also resolve the issue of produced water disposal, enabling improved formation pressure maintenance capabilities for the field.
In 2020, the Company expanded its CDP reporting scope, with water management disclosures posted on the CDP’s website for the first time as part of the 2019 Water Security Questionnaire.
