The village of Berezovka is located in the Burlinsky District of Western Kazakhstan Oblast. It was formerly a central farmstead in the “Akbulaksky” state farm, one of the wealthiest farms in the oblast. Nearly 1400 people currently reside in the village.
In 1979, the Karachaganak Oil and Gas Condensate Field was opened adjacent to Berezovka. In 1997, the international consortium “Karachaganak Petroleum Operating, B.V.” began developing the field, leading to severe environmental pollution.
KPO is one of the largest projects in the Republic of Kazakhstan, and has been included in a list from the Ministry of Environmental Protection of enterprises that are particularly dangerous to the environment. In 2002, the Ministry of Public Health established a Sanitary Protection Zone (SPZ) with a radius of 5000 meters around the Karachaganak Field, and a portion of the village of Berezovka falls within this zone. In accordance with Kazakhstani legislation, people are not permitted to live within Sanitary Protection Zones. For this reason, the residents of the village should have been relocated to a safe location. The issue of relocation has been raised repeatedly with local authorities and authorized government bodies.
However, in 2004, the State’s Senior Sanitary Doctor made the decision to reduce the SPZ from 5000 to 3000-3840 meters, violating a number of requirements set forth in national legislation and in the Aarhus Convention. As a result, the village of Berezovka found itself outside of the SPZ’s boundaries.
In 2006, the General Public Prosecutor issued a protest against this decision. As a result, the decision was recognized as illegal and it no longer carries legal force. Today, the SPZ has been restored to 5000 meters.
Since 2002, the residents of Berezovka have tried unsuccessfully to defend their rights to live in a healthy environment. Their repeated appeals to the authorities and KPO to resolve the issue of relocation have not led to any concrete results.
In 2004, Berezovka residents were compelled to submit a complaint to the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Office of Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO). In 2002, the IFC awarded a $150 million loan for development of the Karachaganak Field to Lukoil, which together with ENI, BG Group, and Chevron, comprises KPO. Therefore, the local residents appealed to the CAO, stating that the IFC’s investment is fostering environmental pollution. In 2007 and 2008, two additional complaints were filed, raising the issue of the need to relocate the residents of the village and to provide them with compensation for damages incurred. In response to the first complaint, the CAO conducted an audit, the results of which were published in April 2008. The CAO acknowledged that KPO’s monitoring of atmospheric emissions and water quality was not in compliance with the IFC’s standards. The complaint review process is still underway.
In 2007, KPO was the focus of a corruption scandal. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, found the American company Baker Hughes, which was a contractor at KPO, guilty of bribing Kazakhstani bureaucrats. As such, the American entrepreneurs were awarded a profitable contract to participate in the preparatory work at the Karachaganak Field.
In connection with the Government’s failure to act, on June 19, 2008, the Ecological Society Green Salvation, the Kazakhstani International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, and the Nationwide Public Association “Shanyrak” filed a lawsuit in Kazakhstan on behalf of the residents of the village of Berezovka.
Translated by Michelle Kinman.
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KARACHAGANAK IN THE NEWS (Crude Accountability)
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– Appeal Regarding the Emergency Situation in the Village of Berezovka (2.12.2014)
– Sinkholes Appear in and Around the Village of Berezovka Near the Karachaganak Field in Kazakhstan (19.01.2011)
– A Town that Suffers because of World Bank Inaction (youtube – CrudeAccountability) (2010).
– A lawsuit about the government inactivity. Court on-site hearings in Berezovka village (13.05.2010)
– Kazakhstan has Charged an Oil Extraction Consortium $700 Million in Illegal Revenue (Gazeta.ru, 26.03.2010)
– The People have Taken a Partial Step towards Victory (Republic, 02.02.2010)
– Lawsuit on the Government’s Failure to Act: A Complaint has been Submitted! (27.02.2009)
– On May 9, the Ecological Society Green Salvation and Crude Accountability submitted a joint complaint to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to protect the rights of Berezovka residents (Burlinsky District, Western Kazakhstan Oblast). It is the third public complaint to the CAO regarding this problem. On June 5, the CAO announced that an assessment of the complaint will be undertaken.
– Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Decree of the Court No. 4GP-64-08 (26.03.2008)
– APPRAISAL REPORT. Case of Green Salvation / Residents in the Village of Berezovka II (15.01.2008)
– ASSESSMENT REPORT. Case regarding the Green Salvation Ecological Society and Karachaganak Petroleum Operation (15.11.2007)
– Letter from Office of the Compliance advisor/Ombudsman (25.07.2007)
– Appeal of Kazakhstani and American NGOs to the World Bank (13.06.2007)
– IFC Officially Confirmed That the Complaint Is Eligible for Further Assessment (02.05.2007)
– Complaint to Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman International Finance Corporation (11.04.2007)
– An Oil Democracy, or the Story of Berezovka (Green Salvation Herald, 2006)
– Film “Svetlana’s Story” (08.2003)