Kazakhstan threatened Wednesday to suspend Chevron Corp.'s license for operations at a giant Caspian Sea oil field and gave the U.S. energy giant a month to come up with a plan to remove hazardous waste.
Environmental Minister Nurlan Iskakov said in televised remarks that the Chevron-led Tengizchevroil consortium developing the Tengiz field in western Kazakhstan has stockpiled some 9 million metric tons (9.92 million tons) of sulfur extracted from the crude.
The field, one of the world's largest, has been developed since 1993 by a consortium that includes Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Kazakh state energy company Kazmunaigaz. Chevron produced 13.3 million tons (14.7 million tons) of oil at Tengiz last year, and plans to nearly double the output after 2008.
Iskakov gave Chevron a month to present an action plan to remove the hazardous sulfur waste, or face suspension of operations.
Kazakhstan possesses some of the largest oil deposits in the Caspian Sea, produces about 1.3 million barrels a day, and expects to achieve a daily output of 3 million barrels by 2015.
(AFX News, 21/02/2007)