Environmental monitoring

KPO places a greater focus on environmental safety operations. In accordance with the RoK environmental legislation, KPO has implemented a number of environmental programmes, which cover all areas of the KPO production activities. Among the core programmes, there is a Production Environmental Control (PEC) Programme developed in line with RoK Environmental Code requirements to meet the following objectives:

• obtaining reliable data about emissions and impact of production operations on the environment;
• reducing the impact on the environment and human health;
• rapid and proactive response on emergencies;
• communication to stakeholders (local communities, state regulatory bodies, company partners) about the environmental activities of the Company and risks for human health.

As part of the PEC implementation, the environmental monitoring includes observations of both the environmental emissions — air emissions, wastewater discharge, waste treatment, accumulation and disposal, and the quality of environmental components — air, surface and ground water, and soil.

The PEC monitoring demonstrated that concentrations of target substances in 2023 were on a par with those observed in previous years. There were no evidences that the Karachaganak Field operations may have impacted any of environment’s components.

Air quality is monitored by ways of collecting and testing the samples. The job is performed by an accredited laboratory, as well as 18 stationary automatic EMS. In 2023, as part of the PEC Programme over 100 thous. samples were collected, 115 thous. laboratory analyses and around 28 thous. measurements were completed.

KPO regularly monitors the production environmental control over the environmental condition at the field waste disposal facilities. In 2023, as a result of monitoring of ground water and soil at the Eco Centre Solid Industrial Waste Burial Landfill and the Temporary Liquid Drilling Waste Storage Site, as well as in checks 35A and 35B, no direct negative impact on the environmental protection components is noted. Quantitative control over the movement of waste is carried out in order to take into account the volume of burial, as well as the volumes and time of waste accumulation.

Air quality is assessed based on a maximum permissible concentration (MPC) specified in the sanitary and hygienic standards. To identify the level of air pollution, the recorded concentrations of monitored components are compared against the maximum permissible concentrations and then the values are expressed in percentage.

MPC of an air pollutant is a concentration, which does not cause a direct or indirect lifelong negative impact on the present or the future generations, does not reduce the working capacity of a person and his/her health and does not deteriorate the sanitary and living conditions of human beings.