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KazMunayGas: Offenders in the Incident at Atyrau Refinery will be Punished

06.11.2020

On 5 November, as part of a special visit of Daniyar Tiyessov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of JSC NC “KazMunayGas” (KMG) for Oil Refining and Oil Chemistry to Atyrau Refinery (AR), a meeting was held to review the incident at the bio-treatment facilities.

It was reported during the meeting that, at the moment, there were no recorded deviations from oil product maximum permissible concentrations. In addition, an environmental protection plan was amended in view of the reasons for the incident and the results of the inspection. The incident investigation commission would also take a decision regarding punishment for the parties at fault at AR based on the inspection findings.

“It was a serious incident for the city, and the refinery is responsible for it. We apologise to the citizens for the incident. The KMG management continuously monitors the situation. We have upgraded the facility but, unfortunately, are still upgrading the mindset of our employees with regard to personal responsibility for operation cycles. Moreover, these employees are also residents of the city, that is why the consequences of their actions directly affect the well-being of the entire Atyrau population. The refinery must improve the situation as soon as possible and take the appropriate measures to avoid re-occurrence in the future,” emphasised D. Tiyessov.

To recap, on 1 November 2020 at 16:00, a failure of power supply resulted in the shutdown of the sump sludge recirculation pump of the bio-treatment facility. It led to exceeded concentrations of suspended and organic matter (bio-sludge) at the sand filter outlet of the sump. At the time, the sand-filter unit was being repaired and the unit was temporarily isolated from the process. As a result, wastewater with the suspended and organic matter was discharged from the bio-treatment facilities to the standard treated wastewater channel.

On 1 November at 23:00, the operation of the bio-treatment facilities was restored. Float lines were additionally installed at the standard treated wastewater channel to prevent bio-sludge from further entering the evaporation field. At the moment, bio-sludge from the channel is pumped out by vacuum machines and transported back to the facility.

JSC NC KazMunayGas

On 5 November, as part of a special visit of Daniyar Tiyessov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of JSC NC “KazMunayGas” (KMG) for Oil Refining and Oil Chemistry to Atyrau Refinery (AR), a meeting was held to review the incident at the bio-treatment facilities.

It was reported during the meeting that, at the moment, there were no recorded deviations from oil product maximum permissible concentrations. In addition, an environmental protection plan was amended in view of the reasons for the incident and the results of the inspection. The incident investigation commission would also take a decision regarding punishment for the parties at fault at AR based on the inspection findings.

“It was a serious incident for the city, and the refinery is responsible for it. We apologise to the citizens for the incident. The KMG management continuously monitors the situation. We have upgraded the facility but, unfortunately, are still upgrading the mindset of our employees with regard to personal responsibility for operation cycles. Moreover, these employees are also residents of the city, that is why the consequences of their actions directly affect the well-being of the entire Atyrau population. The refinery must improve the situation as soon as possible and take the appropriate measures to avoid re-occurrence in the future,” emphasised D. Tiyessov.

To recap, on 1 November 2020 at 16:00, a failure of power supply resulted in the shutdown of the sump sludge recirculation pump of the bio-treatment facility. It led to exceeded concentrations of suspended and organic matter (bio-sludge) at the sand filter outlet of the sump. At the time, the sand-filter unit was being repaired and the unit was temporarily isolated from the process. As a result, wastewater with the suspended and organic matter was discharged from the bio-treatment facilities to the standard treated wastewater channel.

On 1 November at 23:00, the operation of the bio-treatment facilities was restored. Float lines were additionally installed at the standard treated wastewater channel to prevent bio-sludge from further entering the evaporation field. At the moment, bio-sludge from the channel is pumped out by vacuum machines and transported back to the facility.

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