Chevron’s Kazakstan Tengiz oilfield jv fine reduced to 309 mln usd

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (Thomson Financial) – Chevron’s Tengiz oilfield joint venture in Kazakhstan has had its fine for environmental violations at the oilfield reduced to 309 mln usd on appeal, roughly half of the initial fine of 609 mln usd.
The fine was reviewed yesterday, said Yerbol Kouanov, head of law services for the protection of the environment department of the Atyrau region, where Tengiz is situated.
He added the fine was paid yesterday by the TengizChevroil joint venture, controlled 50 pct by Chevron. The company must also pay 10 mln usd in legal fees.
At the time of the initial violation, the environment minister Nurlan Iskakov said: ‘In the past, the violations were almost systematic — there are 98 accidents, 15 of which were concealed between 2003 and 2006. We have set the fine at 74.4 bln tenge, or 609 mln usd.’
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