Management of waste

Waste handling in KPO is focused on reducing the real and potential hazards the generated waste may impose on people and the environment. We continuously explore and apply new and most advanced techniques and technologies in waste management.

Our targets are to treat and to recycle waste at our facilities, to cut down waste transfer to landfills and to reduce the negative impact from burial.

Tab. 38. Targets in waste management

KPO processes related to production, processing and transportation of raw materials, as well as utilization of special equipment, materials and other required resources, inevitably involve generation of waste.

Measures taken by KPO to reduce the volume of generated waste, the Ventures’ compliance with environmental safety rules during accumulation and storage, collection and transportation, segregation, reuse, recycling and reduction of volumes and hazardous properties of wastes, as well as environmentally friendly burial – all this enables to significantly mitigate the adverse impact on people and the environment. 

The KPO Waste Management Programme for 2018–2020 provides indicators and measures aimed at gradually reducing the accumulated and generated waste volumes and its hazardous properties. The Company applies the following waste management methods:

• waste recycling back into the production process stream;
• waste treatment at the Eco Centre facilities;
• waste disposal at the Eco Centre facilities;
• waste transfer to specialist contractor organizations for further disposal, processing and destruction. 

In 2020, the volume of waste generated at KPO facilities totalled 33,178 tonnes. Compared to 2019 this shows a decrease by 24,608 tonnes, which was mainly due to the reduction of the drilling programme and the shutdown of the rotary kiln incinerator for repair. Graph 24 shows all types of waste generated in KPO.

According to the Unified National Form of the waste reporting information system, the total amount of waste generated in 2020 includes waste both generated and treated.

Graph 24. Waste generated at KPO facilities in 2018– 2020, tonnes

Waste treatment and disposal

Treatment of the Company’s production and consumption waste is carried out at the Eco Centre facilities or Waste Management Complex. The facility ensures cost-efficient and environmentally safe recycling and treatment of solid wastes and fluids and is truly considered to be an example of the best drilling waste management practice in the West Qazaqstan Oblast. The best available technologies are applied at the KPO Eco Centre facilities for treating drilling waste, which allows not only to reduce the volume and hazards of waste, but also to recover valuable components and treat waste for further reuse. Waste recycling back into production process exercised by the Company is the best possible way to re-use the generated waste.

The KPO Eco Centre comprises five waste treatment facilities, as well as a Landfill for its safe disposal:

• Thermo-mechanical cuttings cleaning facility (TCC),
• Rotary Kiln Incinerator (RKI),
• General Purpose Incinerator (GPI),
• Liquids Treatment Plant (LTP),
• Waste Segregation Unit (WSU).

During 2020, the following activities were completed at the Eco Centre:

• Owing to separation of base oil and water from the treated oil-based drilling cuttings, in 2020 the quantity of KPO disposed waste was reduced by 7 % from the originally generated volume.
• In 2020, 8,571 tonnes of waste were treated, 1,195 tonnes of base oil and water were separated, and 7,227 tonnes of waste treated at the TCC were disposed at the Solid Industrial Waste Landfill.
• Through treatment and neutralization of drilling and production waste at the Rotary Kiln Incinerator, the volume of waste (against the originally generated amount) was reduced by an average of 24 %. In 2020, 4,600 tonnes of drilling and production waste were treated; 3,504 tonnes of waste treated at the Thermo-mechanical Cuttings Cleaning Facility were disposed at the Solid industrial waste landfill.
• By incineration of wastes at the General Purpose Incinerator, the amound of waste was reduced by 90 %. In 2020, 772 tonnes of waste were sent for incineration, following which 73 tonnes of ash were disposed at the Solid industrial waste landfill.
• In 2020, 6,603 tonnes of liquid waste were treated. The process resulted in 2,052 tonnes of treated brines and muds, which were sent for re-use – preparation of drilling brines and muds.
• In 2020, 1,093 tonnes of solid domestic waste were sent to GPI for incineration, 164 tonnes including waste paper, metal scrap, glass and plastic were segregated and handed over to the specialist organizations for treatment and reuse. 320 tonnes of solid domestic waste were handed over to the specialist organizations for disposal at the Solid Domestic Waste Landfill.
• 12 cells of the Solid Industrial Waste Landfill were capped and closed at the end of 2020.

In 2020, the Company continued extraction of wastes from the old Solid Waste and Spent Drilling Liquids Storage Site for further treatment at the Thermo-mechanical Cuttings Cleaning facility and Rotary Kiln Incinerator and disposal at Solid industrial Waste Landfill. The waste is disposed at the Landfill according to the RoQ environmental legislation requirements.

In 2020, 1,220 tonnes (as compared to 3,777 tonnes in 2019) were sent for treatment from the Solid Waste and Spent Drilling Liquids Storage Site. In 2021, further processing of waste from the site will continue.

Tab. 39. KPO waste handling methods in 2020, tonnes

Note: the amount of waste is defined by weighing of each batch of waste at the Eco Centre weight scales prior to its transportation for treatment, segregation, removal, burial or other operations. Waste quantities are logged in the waste supporting documents (control tickets, waste handover certificates) and further in the Company’s waste accounting database.

KPO waste is mainly produced during the wells drilling and workover activities. Concurrently, the water or oil base of the drilling cuttings depends on the type of the drilling mud used for well operations. The solid and liquid drilling waste generated in 2020 amounted to 14,051 tonnes (70 % of the initially generated waste, i.e. waste volume before treatment).

Table 40 shows the main types of drilling waste broken down by the handling methods. As the table shows, only waterbased mud and cuttings are subject to disposal. Oil-based drilling cuttings are subject to burying after pre-treatment and extraction of the oil base.

Tab. 40. Waste generated from well operations by handling methods, 2018–2020

Within the contract terms, the Company hands over part of the waste for disposal to specialist contractors, who make their own decision on further waste handling methods once the waste has been accepted from KPO, and report on its transfer to third parties on a quarterly basis. Depending on the type, specialised enterprises hand over the waste for treatment with subsequent production of consumer goods, demercurization, regeneration, thermal treatment, incineration, physical and chemical treatment, dismantling into component parts with further transfer to concerned enterprises as recyclables.

Due to introduction of the Article 301 of the RoQ Environmental Code from 01.01.2019 that prohibits disposal of waste plastic, plastic, polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate packaging, waste paper, cardboard, paper waste, glass cullet, the Company carries out segregation of these types of waste in rented buildings with engagement of sub-contractors. These types of waste are handed over to specialized enterprises to be used as recyclables.

Since 2011 until the end of 2020, for the whole period of the waste paper segregation, about 640 tonnes of the waste paper has been collected and transferred to local enterprises for production of consumer goods.

The segregation of spent batteries was arranged in all Company office premises. In 2020, 118 kg of batteries were collected.