Since mid-March, scheduled to continue till the end of April, preventive activities have been in progress at Caspian Pipeline Consortium's industrial sites to prepare for sustainable operation during the spring and summer fire hazard period.
At all CPC facilities, special focus is being made on making sure there are necessary stocks of fire water in tanks and ponds and that foam agent is available and of good quality. Functional tests are being conducted of indoor and outdoor fire water piping systems, fixed automatic and hand-held automatic fire suppression units and fire alarms, notification and site evacuation systems. Facilities are being checked for having full sets of initial firefighting appliances, fire extinguishers are being maintained and, if necessary, recharged. Fire trucks are being prepared for the summer period, firefighting and fire-truck equipment is being checked.
To prevent forest or dry grass fire threats, contractor personnel are clearing dry grass from exclusion zones around the oil pipeline and high voltage power line right-of-ways. Efforts are under way to renew mineralized strips around the perimeters of industrial facilities located in forested areas.
Additional fire and occupational safety briefings are being conducted for personnel. Training exercises are being conducted to test CPC and contractor personnel readiness for emergency response and fire-fighting. Interaction plans are worked through with territorial units of the Russian Ministry of Emergencies for fighting forest fires in areas adjoining the pipeline exclusion zone.
For reference:
CPC Pipeline System is one of the major investment projects in the energy sector with participation of foreign capital in the CIS. The length of the Tengiz–Novorossiysk Pipeline is 1,511 km; it transports over two thirds of all Kazakhstan export crude, as well as crude from Russian oil fields, including the Caspian Region. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with three Single Point Moorings (SPM) that allow to load tankers safely at a significant distance offshore, also amid poor weather conditions.
CPC Shareholders: Russian Federation (represented by Transneft – 24% and CPC Company – 7%) – 31%; Republic of Kazakhstan (represented by Kazmunaygaz – 19% and Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%) – 20.75%; Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company - 15%, LUKARCO B.V. - 12.5%, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company – 7.5%, Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited – 7.5%, BG Overseas Holding Limited - 2%, Eni International N.A. N.V. - 2% and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.