For the first time in 20 years, saiga migration has been observed in the Republic of Kalmykia. According to the specialists, including Bataar Ubushayev, General Director of the Black Lands Reserve, migration of approximately one third of the Red Book animals from the protected area to Oktyabrsky, Ketchenerovsky, Tselinny and Maloderbetovsky Districts of the Autonomy is related to the growth of their population.
Last year, there were approximately 10,000 saiga in the Black Lands Reserve - three times more than five years ago. The projected number of steppe antelope this year is 13,000-14,000 heads.
Combining the efforts of local authorities and corporate citizen allowed to ensure not only the preservation of the saiga population, but also its significant growth.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium plays an important role in this. Since 2015, the Company has been providing support to the Black Lands Reserve as part of the environmental and education project “Let’s Save Our Country’s Environment”. Over the course of the project, CPC has invested over 20 mln Rubles in the Republic’s ecology. With the help of these funds, the Reserve has drilled artesian wells to create watering places, purchased specialized motor vehicles and equipment for observation, photo fixation and maintenance of fire safety.
The 2021 budget of the environmental project “Let’s Save Our Country’s Environment” in Kalmykia exceeds 3.6 mln Rubles. Purchase of winter and summer overalls and footwear for 50 local gamekeepers and video fixation equipment, radio stations, laptops, storage batteries for wind generators is planned. All this is aimed at improving the saiga population monitoring system.
The beginning of the saiga migration in Kalmykia roughly coincides with the observed growth of the animal population in Kazakhstan, as recently reported by the British broadcaster BBC, citing independent experts. For its part, since 2016, CPC has been participating also in the project to preserve the saiga population in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
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The CPC Pipeline System is one of CIS largest energy investment projects that involves foreign capital. The length of the Tengiz – Novorossiysk pipeline is 1,511 km. This route moves over two thirds of all Kazakhstan export oil along with crude from Russian fields including those in the Caspian region. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with three Single Point Moorings (SPM), allowing tankers to be loaded safely at significant distance offshore, including in poor weather conditions
CPC Shareholders: Federal Agency for State Property Management represented by Transneft (trustee) – 24%, CPC Company – 7%, KazMunayGas – 19%; Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%, 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%.