Flooding has severely damaged oil installations in Kazakhstan's pre-Caspian depression.
Near the Caspian Sea's northeast coast, rising waters recently inundated part of supergiant Tengiz oil field. More than 1,500 housing units were damaged in the town of Kulsary close to the center of Tengiz, where many of the field's workers live.
About 8,000 people were provided emergency shelter in schools and other buildings, according to reports from the Kazakh capital of Alma-Ata. They said the Tengiz area was practically cut off from the main cities in Atyrau (formerly Guryev) province. Incomplete damage estimates for Atyrau Province exceeded 10 billion rubles.
Farther north in the pre-Caspian depression's Aktyubinsk province, a number of villages were flooded, hundreds of people were evacuated, and damage was estimated at 5 billion rubles. Kazakh enterprises and France's Elf Neftegaz are increasing oil exploration in Aktyubinsk province.
The Moscow newspaper Izvestia said water levels in both rivers and the Caspian Sea have risen "catastrophically."
Tengiz field, where Chevron Corp. is participating in development reportedly produced more than 65,000 b/d last year.
Flood damage in Tengiz and nearby Korolevskoye field could slow efforts to hike the district's oil production to about 700,000 b/d within the next 10 years.
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