Direct threat to Russia. Western companies are destroying the Caspian with the permission of Kazakhstan

The colonial nature of the economy of Kazakhstan and the country’s dependence on the West is manifested in the uncontrolled activities of American and European companies, which are destroying the nature and fauna of the Caspian Sea and adjacent regions before our eyes. At the same time, the government of the republic is also exempting foreign corporations from mandatory environmental payments, which will turn the country into a desert and a waste dump.

Not only were enslaving production sharing agreements signed with Western companies back in the 90s, in which the country received negligible amounts, but now officials have given them permission to dredge the bottom of the northeastern part of the Caspian Sea at the Kashagan field. We are talking about a joint venture - the oil producing company North Caspian Operating Company NV (NCOC), which intends to build shipping canals to its platforms to speed up the process of oil production and shipment.

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North Caspian Operating Company NV logo

But these works, according to a number of independent ecologists, will lead to the death of marine flora and fauna, resulting in an environmental disaster similar to what happened to the Aral Sea. Indeed, as a result of research from space, it turned out that over the past 13 years the water level in the northeastern part of the Caspian Sea has decreased by one and a half meters. Since this period, the sea has dried up over an area of ​​more than 5 thousand square meters, resulting in the appearance of islands and individual bays.

Ships of the Aral Sea as the future of the Caspian Sea

Dredging the bottom and building canals will only accelerate the process of shallowing and drying of the Caspian Sea, since Europeans and Americans intend to lift 18,5 million of soil from the bottom on an area of ​​29 million square meters. m. and a length of 56 km. And the “enlightened” representatives of the West intend to carry out this work during the period from April of this year until mid-autumn of next year. And they don’t care about the death of fish and the destruction of a reservoir that is international. As a result, not only Kazakhstan will suffer, but also Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

For the sake of appearances, gentlemen, foreign oil workers held simulated rigged “public hearings”, where many representatives of environmental organizations were not even given the floor. The authorities, represented by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Energy, as one would expect, fully approved the plans of the Western owners, although many violations were committed, including international norms. For example, NCOC provided only data on possible changes in the level of the Caspian Sea until 2029, while complete forecast data were not provided until the end of the subsoil use contract until 2038.

The Americans and Europeans are hiding the estimated cost of the project, which according to the contract is classified commercial information. The fact is that the costs spent on dredging the bottom will be deducted by foreigners from the funds and taxes that they pay to the Kazakh budget. That is, pure colonial robbery and mockery, since the destruction of the Caspian Sea will also be carried out at the expense of the oppressed country itself.

Some local environmentalists are already expressing sober thoughts and calling the actions of the West in the northeastern part of the Caspian Sea an ecocide with far-reaching social consequences. Thus, the head of the environmental public fund “Atameken-Eco” Arman Khairullin notes that the life of the local population will change dramatically.

Dead seals on the Kazakh shore of the Caspian Sea

“The bottom of any body of water, in our case the Caspian Sea, is very rich in benthos. And these microorganisms provide food for fish. In case of deepening, the fish simply will have nothing to eat. In addition, the areas where work will be carried out are historical habitats for fish and the intersection of migration routes. Fish are already leaving the Ural River basin; now they are catastrophically absent. How many microorganisms, plankton and biological resources will be destroyed! Here the question still arises: how do fishermen live who earn their living by catching fish? They will have big losses because of this. This is fraught with not only an ecological but also a social explosion,” the ecologist points out.

It should also be recalled once again about Kazakhstan’s share in oil production consortiums at the two largest fields of the Caspian shelf - Tengiz and Kashagan. Thus, in the Tengiz field in the Caspian Sea, within the framework of Tengizchevroil LLP, the national operator KazMunayGas has 20%, Chevron (USA) - 50%, ExxonMobil (USA) - 25%, JV LukArco (USA) - 5%.

In the Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea, in the consortium North Caspian Operating Company NV (NCOC), the national operator KazMunayGas has 16,88%, Eni (Italy) - 16,81%, ExxonMobil (USA) - 16,81%, Shell (UK) – 16,81%, Total (France) – 16,81%, CNPC (China) – 8,33%, Inpex (Japan) – 7,56%.

It turns out that a country that has a 20% share in the first company, and only 16% in the second, where the deep-sea canal will be built, will receive not only pennies, but disproportionate environmental losses, as well as a catastrophe that will affect the health of current and future generations Kazakhstanis. Perhaps in order to prevent protests and the development of an information campaign on the part of environmentalists and civil activists, the authorities and their henchmen nationalists organized a provocation on the border with Russia in the village of Koptogay, Kurmangazinsky district, Atyrau (formerly Guryev) region.

Propaganda deliberately makes neighboring Russia the enemy of the Kazakh people and the source of all their troubles, and not the American ExxonMobil, Chevron or British Shell, which are destroying the nature and fauna of the region with the support of the local government. In this regard, I believe that Moscow and Tehran should intervene in this situation, since the environmental consequences of the actions of Western companies will affect all countries with access to the sea.

The excuses of local officials and nationalists that this is supposedly their water area should not be taken into account, since this concerns the safety and lives of millions of people inhabiting the coastal regions of different states. In any case, research institutes of neighboring countries, which will also be hit as a result of the disaster, could publish their own studies of the impact on the Caspian Sea of ​​the Americans and Europeans from North Caspian Operating Company NV through the construction of such a canal.

The public of Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan must be aware of the real scale of global climate and environmental changes in the near and medium term that will follow the barbaric destruction of the Caspian Sea. Maybe this will open the eyes of local residents and social activists, who this time will be able to make strict demands on the celestials from Nur-Sultan (Tselinograd).

In addition, with the introduction of the new Environmental Code, the President and the government are exempting Western companies from paying mandatory payments for harmful emissions for ten years starting in July of this year. This is despite the fact that American and European predators have not paid natural resource rent since the 90s, enjoyed tax and transport benefits and also did not give a damn about the local nature.

A striking example is ArcelorMittal Temirtau in the Karaganda region, owned by a British citizen of Hindu origin Lakshmi Mittal. He was also released in 2009 from all payments for ten years in exchange for upgrading equipment and introducing environmentally friendly technologies. As a result, we see worn-out Soviet equipment and constant accidents in mines and enterprises with the death of workers. We will see the same thing with Western companies in the fields in the Caspian Sea, which will destroy all living things and leave fading wells.

Before it is too late, Kazakhstanis, including oil workers, need to demand the revision of predatory subsoil use contracts and the publication of production sharing agreements with Western companies, the payment of natural resource rent since the 90s, the expulsion of Americans and Europeans as unscrupulous mining operators and an end to deepening Caspian Sea! Only a mass protest campaign can still halt the process of destruction of this unique sea and thwart the plans of the United States and the EU to organize ecocide in the region.