Waste treatment and disposal

The company production and consumption waste treatment is carried out at the Eco Centre facilities or waste management complex. The facility ensures cost-efficient and environmentally safe recycling and treatment of drilling cuttings and fluids and is truly considered to be an example of the leading drilling waste management practice in the West-Kazakhstan Oblast.
The best available technologies are applied at the KPO Eco Centre facilities for treating production and consumption waste allowing not only reducing the volume and hazards of waste, but also extracting valuable components as well as treating waste for further reuse. Waste recovery to the process stream exercised by the Company is the best possible way to re-use the waste generated in drilling operations.

The KPO Eco Centre’s waste treatment facilities are presented further.

KPO Eco Centre treatment facilities

Specialized contractor organizations normally make their own decision on the further waste management methods once the waste is accepted from KPO. They report to KPO quarterly on the wastes handed over to third parties. Depending on the type, specialised enterprises hand over the waste for treatment with subsequent production of consumer goods, demercurization, regeneration, heat treatment, incineration, physical and chemical treatment, dismantling into component parts with further transfer to concerned enterprises as recyclables.

Since 2011, for the whole period of the waste paper segregation, about 440 tonnes of the waste paper has been collected and transferred to local enterprises to produce consumer goods. The segregation of spent batteries was arranged in all company office premises. 200 kg of batteries were collected in 2018.

Due to Article 301 of the RoK Environmental Code which has become effective since 01.01.2019, prohibiting the disposal of waste plastic, plastic, polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate packaging, waste paper, cardboard, paper waste, cullet at the landfills, the company carries out the segregation of these types of waste in the buildings leased for company offices to hand over to specialized enterprises that use them as recyclables.

Waste is disposed at the Eco Centre Solid Industrial Waste Landfill in compliance with the RoK environmental legislation. In 2018, KPO has been continuing the transfer of the waste generated at the old Solid Waste Storage Site and spent drilling liquids to the Eco Centre Solid Industrial Waste Landfill. The waste was continued to be moved from the old Site for further treatment at the TCC, and RKI facilities and disposed at the Solid Industrial Waste Landfill. The waste is disposed at the Landfill according to the RK environmental legislation requirements.

In 2018, 6,156.16 tonnes (as compared to 5,266.26 tonnes in 2017) were sent for treatment from the Solid waste and Spent Drilling Liquids Storage Site. In 2019, further processing of waste from the Site is done.

The KPO waste is mainly produced in the process of the wells drilling and workover activities. Of note, the water or oil base of the drilling cuttings depends on the type of the drilling mud used for the well operations. The solid and liquid drilling waste generated in 2018 amounted to 18, 682 tonnes (63% from the initially generated waste, i.e. initial waste volume before treatment).

The table below shows the main types of drilling waste broken down by the handling methods. As one may see, only water-based muds and cuttings are subject to disposal. Oil-based drilling cuttings can only be buried after treatment and extraction of the oil base.

Waste generated from well operations, by handling method, 2016-2018