Download Report (PDF; 3.90 Mb) - Lukoil

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTObject in focus: Operations in the North Caspian aquatoryThe Company's special pride is the discovery of a new oil and gasfield in the northern Caspian. Only a few years ago it was thoughtthat most hydrocarbon resources were located in the Azerbaijan,Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan sectors of the Caspian Sea, and thisweakened Russia's position. During the last five years, LUKOILdiscovered five large deposits with total reserves of over 100 milliontons of oil and 650 billion cubic meters of gas in the Russiansection of the Caspian. The new geological information prompteda very speedy agreement on delimitation of marine bordersbetween Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.OOO LUKOIL-Nizhnevolzhskneft, which is responsible for the project,implements a number of technological and logistical measuresto minimize negative impact on the water ecosystem duringexploratory drilling. The drilling platform Astra used by theCompany for oil exploration in the Caspian aquatory is equippedwith a circulating system for drilling fluid, drainage systems forpolluted waste discharges, and a reservoir for utility waste water.Wells in the North Caspian are drilled using oil-free drilling mudand therefore excess mud and cuttings contain no oil hydrocarbons.The closed-loop mud circulating system allows their reuseafter treatment. Drilling cuttings are placed in metal containers andrecycled at onshore facilities.The company performs comprehensive toxicological testing toevaluate the impact of drilling and production on the marine environment.Specialists study the speed of self-purification andbiodegradation of contaminants, the assimilative capacity of themarine ecosystem, and they prepare mathematical models toassess possible emergencies, predict their likely consequencesand design scenarios for their management.The marine area being surveyed is 30,000 square kilometres. Thecompany conducts two annual comprehensive marine expeditionson the research vessels of the Caspian Fishery Institute and theDagestan Centre of Hydrometeorology and EnvironmentalMonitoring. The condition of the marine ecosystem is evaluatedaccording to a 300-item checklist.92