Kazakhstan to Protect Caspian Oil and Gas Facilities

Kazakhstan may deploy forces of the maritime operational headquarters for counter-terrorism near oil and gas facilities in the Caspian Sea. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.

According to an order from Kazakhstan's Ministry of Energy, subsoil users must, upon request of the operational headquarters, provide accommodation for at least 10 employees and a helipad at a distance not exceeding 23 kilometers from offshore production facilities.

The forces and means of the operational headquarters may be deployed on mobile maritime vessels near the facilities. According to the document, these costs are covered by subsoil users. The specific list of costs, their volume, and the procedure for reimbursement and payment are determined by agreement of the parties.

The largest subsoil user developing offshore blocks in Kazakhstan is the NCOC (North Caspian Operating Company) consortium. It includes seven companies: KazMunayGas — 16.88%, Italian Eni, British Shell, American ExxonMobil, and French TotalEnergies — each 16.81%, Chinese CNPC — 8.33%, and Japanese INPEX — 7.56%.