KPO STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO AN ARTICLE BY BRETTON WOODS PROJECT ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH IMPACTS OF THE KARACHAGANAK OIL AND GAS FIELD (KAZAKHSTAN)

19 April 2005

Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO) provided this statement to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre in response to the Bretton Woods Project article of 10 April 2005, “IFC oil field in Kazakhstan flouts disclosure, safeguards policies”.

The project partners in the KPO consortium are BG Group (joint operator – 32.5%), ENI (joint operator – 32.5%), ChevronTexaco (20%) and Lukoil (15%).

Thank you for your invitation for KPO to present its view on the article by Bretton Woods Project. We believe that these allegations are unfounded. KPO, the operating company, regularly publishes air monitoring results in local villages. Monitoring results for the villages, published locally and distributed free of charge to the villages in the field area, do not indicate the presence of harmful concentrations of pollutants in the air.

KPO discloses information in line with the Kazakh legislation, international covenants and the FPSA [Final Production Sharing Agreement]. KPO as a responsible corporate citizen is strongly committed to the host country and international regulatory compliance as well as operational, social and environmental obligations under FPSA. However, we will not engage in any debates in the Internet over allegations made by any third party.

Source:

http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/757109/jump

Bretton Woods Article April 10, 2005:
http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/743490/jump