"LUKOIL-Komi" Restores more than 52 hectares of oil polluted wilderness

In 2007 OOO «LUKOIL-Komi” revitalized 52 hectares of oil-polluted land in the Usinsky region. The activity included technological and biological recultivation after the 1994 spill, according to the director of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Komi, Aleksandr Borovinsky, as reported by “Oil and Capital” referencing “KomiOnline”.

Across the company’s properties in the republic 38 km of pipeline were repaired including 33 km of pipeline to the Ukhtinsky and Sosnogorsky oil fields, and of the interfiled pipelines DNS “Northern Vozey” — DNS-7.

In the last year the program of ecological awareness events raised nearly 2 billion rubles, significantly passing the mark set in 2006.

According to the minister, the analysis of the information presented by «LUKOIL-Komi” shows that from 2004 to 2007 the level of depressurization of the oil flow volume on the company’s pipelines had stabilized in the Usinsky region. Over this period workers replaced 189 kilometers of pipeline and refurbished 329 hectares of oil polluted wilderness. More than 3 billion rubles were put aside for these steps in protecting our environment.

As Borovinsky noted, the Ministry of Nature of Komi is happy with the work done by «LUKOIL Komi”, however, it sees no reason for oil workers to slow down. It is still essential to further protect the environment in oil-producing and transporting regions, and to focus attention on resolving ecological problems not only in the Usinsky region, but in all the other regions where the company operates.

All in all, according to the Borovinsky, Komi's large endeavor contributed more than 3.6 billion rubles to the environmental event, by preliminary estimates. That’s 1.6 times the amount of 2006.

The subsidiary of OAO «LUKOIL”, OOO “LUKOIL Komi”, was registered April 12, 2001. It operates out of the Timano-Pechorskaya oil and gas province (a region bordered by the territory of the Komi Republic and the Nenetsky Autonomous Okrug), and controls north-western Russia’s largest hydrocarbon fields. A part of the operational hydrocarbon fields lies beyond the Arctic Circle.

The majority of the company's resources go into reconnaisance, facilitating, and developing hydrocarbon sites. More than half of the oil in Timano-Pechory is of the problematic category, which is defined by its high viscosity. This requires the use of high-cost mining equiptment.

In 2003 OOO «LUKOIL Komi” began two territorial-industrial endeavors – “LUKOIL-Usinskneftgaz,” “LUKOIL Ukhtaneftgaz” and a industrial service undertaking, “LUKOIL Usinskservice.”