Social Responsibility
Biz Birgemiz! We are Together!
Oil companies help Kazakhstan fight the pandemic
Tengizchevroil
It so happened that Tengizchevroil, implementing a large-scale Tengiz Future Growth Project (FGP-WPMP) with tens of thousands of employees who work in a shift mode, took the brunt of the pandemic that fell on the oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan.
The close and active partnership of TCO and the State first of all, sanitary and epidemiology regulator (SES) of Kazakhstan helped cope with the challenges. This included, among other things, the coordination of joint efforts for PCR testing, contact tracing, and the preparation of isolation facilities. Thanks to this cooperation, the Company continued uninterrupted production and safe execution of works on FGP-WPMP.
From March to June 2020, to ensure employees' safety and reduce the disease's spread, TCO successfully demobilized more than 27,000 personnel from Tengiz to their homes with appropriate compensation. During this temporary demobilization, over 60 commercial flights were sent to 17 regions of Kazakhstan. A TCO aircraft performed 297 passenger flights, and 23 trains and 190 buses were dispatched to all regions across the country.
By August 2020, the Company had implemented a major crew change to refresh crews who had been on extended rotations. In September, TCO began the safe remobilization of tens of thousands of employees to ensure continuous operation and compliance with the FGP-WPMP schedule.
In a difficult time for the country, TCO has proved to be a responsible partner of Kazakhstan, making a significant contribution not only to the country's economy (the Company is the largest taxpayer in Kazakhstan) but also to the fight against coronavirus infection in the local communities The Company purchased and transferred the necessary equipment and funds for the needs of medical workers and the population in the amount of more than 4.5 bln tenge.
For the needs of the Atyrau region, the Company purchased:
- more than 648,000 units of Personal Protective Equipment,
- 56 Oxygen Concentrators,
- 252 units of Medical Equipment,
- 20 Artificial Lung Ventilation Devices,
- 2 PCR devices for Diagnosing Coronavirus Infection,
- Medical Vehicles,
- Pyrometers,
- Thermal Imagers and Disinfectants,
- Mobile Intensive Care Vehicles and Ambulance Vehicles,
Flights were arranged for the repatriation of students and delivery of medicine to the Atyrau region.
Along with the Contractors, TCO led an initiative to raise funds and build a multidisciplinary medical complex with 200 beds in Kulsary town, located in the Zhylyoi district near the Tengiz field.
In addition, TCO has launched a special medical assistance program for its employees and their families living in Atyrau and the Atyrau region. Hundreds of employees and their families were able to use these resources.
Throughout the pandemic, TCO has demonstrated a commitment to social stability. The Company implemented a compensation program that provided permanent employment and employee benefits during forced downtime or remote work and overtime pay for TCO staff and contractors who worked during extended shifts.
Chevron
Chevron Corporation, a key shareholder of Tengizchevroil, was one of the first companies in the country to respond to the emergency. Together with the Ministry of Health, we've developed a list of essential medicines and organized delivery.
To cope with the consequences of the global pandemic, Chevron has provided assistance to local communities and non-governmental organizations in various regions of Kazakhstan. In particular, the following programs were implemented:
- delivery of 17 types of essential medicines for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. Medications are distributed in outpatient clinics and hospitals in all regions of the country. In addition to supplying the medication, the program also included purchasing and delivering 400,000 sets of personal protection supplies, six CT scanners.
- Together with the Ayala Foundation, Chevron donated two mechanical ventilators to the Almaty Children Infectious Diseases Hospital. Along with the high-tech equipment, Chevron ensured training for the doctors.
- In April 2020, Chevron and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (ICAP), in close partnership with the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan and Akimats in Almaty, Nur-Sultan, and Karaganda, organized a 16-day visit of 10 experts (clinicians and epidemiologists) from China. Chinese experts shared their experience in fighting COVID- 19 pandemic. Chevron and ICAP also delivered 70,000 FFP2 protection class respirator masks to medical institutions in Almaty.
- In July 2020, together with ICAP the Medical University of Almaty, training was held for medical personnel and Health Departments in Nur-Sultan and Almaty on responding to health emergencies. More than 1000 medical workers took part in the training.
QOLDA, an emergency support program, was developed by Chevron jointly with Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, which:
- Provided almost 30 grants to help communities in Kazakhstan;
- Supported 17 humanitarian assistance projects that help medical workers, the elderly, people with disabilities, marginal groups, and migrants;
- Almost 3000 families in need received support;
- Delivered 2300 food parcels and 500 PPE sets;
- Provided support to 100 labor migrants;
- Conducted 1400 consultations to small business representatives and developed 300 business development plans.
Eni
Eni has implemented several initiatives to assist medical institutions in the regions where it operates.
Together with other foreign investors, Eni has purchased and donated state-of-the-art intensive care medical equipment and individual protective sets to the Multi-Disciplinary Medical Centre (MDMC) of Nur-Sultan city to help treatment of the COVID-19 patients. The overall cost of the equipment is over 200 mln KZT. The intensive care equipment included several patient monitors, infusion pumps, a blood analyzer, and an electro-impedance tomography unit, as well as the functional resuscitation furniture. The medical staff has also been trained to use the equipment. Besides, more than 10,000 individual protective equipment, including medical masks, protective gowns, glasses, and gloves, have been provided through the MDMC to the medical staff directly exposed to the COVID-19 virus to protect the frontline medical staff.
Besides this, through its affiliate ArmWind LLP implementing renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan, Eni donated 400,000 civilian medical masks to the Aktobe Region Healthcare Department within the framework of an emergency community healthcare support program for the fight against the COVID-19 virus. The use of masks is critical not only to improve medical institutions' ability to provide services and protect health workers dealing with patients but also to protect civilians.
Despite the quarantine restrictions, Eni did not stop its educational projects dedicated to Kazakhstani specialists' training for the oil and gas industry. To ensure students and teachers' safety, the Company immediately switched all its Master's programs in Italy and Kazakhstan to online mode, which allowed not to interrupt the learning process and complete the training at the set time.
Eni's educational programs for young Kazakhstani specialists include Master's program in Energy and Environmental Management and Economics (Milan); Master's in Health, Safety, Environment & Quality Management (Milan); Master's of Science in Petroleum Geology (Perugia). Educational programs in Kazakhstan: Master of Petroleum Engineering (KBTU); Industrial Project Management and Engineering Master's program (KBTU); Bachelor of Petroleum Engineering (Satbayev University).
Eni implemented extensive assistance and support programs within the framework of working partnerships in Kazakhstan: NCOC and KPO.
North Caspian Consortium
NCOC, the North Caspian Consortium operator, was recognized as the best Company of the year at the Kazakhstan-wide Zhomart Zhurek competition among the national organizations providing sponsorship.
In March, after the announcement of a pandemic in Kazakhstan, NCOC delivered vital medical equipment to medical institutions in Atyrau and Mangistau regions. These are 70 artificial lung ventilation devices, multi-purpose hospital beds, defibrillators for intensive care units, medicines, and personal protective equipment for medical personnel, ambulances, and other things—all in the amount of more than three bln tenge.
At the initiative of the NCOC, together with other operators, intensive care doctors from the UK were invited to support the local health system.
One of the most significant projects for the region residents is a new infectious hospital with 200 beds. The new hospital in Atyrau, built in the suburban village of Saryozek, is designed for 180 inpatient beds and 20 beds of the intensive care unit. The main building consists of eight blocks and ten separate auxiliary structures. This is a reception and diagnostic department, an intensive care unit with an operating unit, and five ward departments. All wards are provided with oxygen supply lines, which makes it possible to conduct intensive therapy to treat severe and particularly severe patients.
The new hospital is equipped with advanced technological solutions. One of them is remote monitoring of patients' health status through the organization of a situation center, with the help of which patients' main indicators are consolidated and analyzed. This data is displayed automatically and contributes to the early diagnosis of anomalies. All this aims to minimize direct contact between doctors and patients and reduce the risk of infection among medical staff. NCOC commissioned a similar hospital in October 2020 in Aktau.
One month earlier than planned, the Atyrau Regional Cardiology Center received an additional three-story building with 50 beds. The facility includes two operating rooms, a 6-bed intensive care unit, an MRI room, a laboratory, a food hall, a medical gas supply system, and other departments.
In late autumn, a new central district hospital with 75 beds, including a children's department and an infectious diseases building with ten beds each, was opened in the village of Kurmangazy. There are operating rooms in the main building, intensive care, surgical, therapeutic, maternity, other departments, clinical and diagnostic laboratory, and an X-ray room. The hospital is equipped with automatic ventilation and air conditioning system. It is equipped with a fire alarm system, a medical gas supply system, and a diesel power plant for the emergency supply of electricity.
Also, as part of the program for the construction of infrastructure and social projects, NCOC has built other health facilities this year, including a polyclinic in the village of Koktogai in the Inder district, a 100-bed sanatorium-type kindergarten in the village of Dossor in the Makat district, a 25-bed day hospital in the city of Fort Shevchenko and a children's department of the central district hospital in the Tupkaragan district of the Mangystau region.
Karachaganak Petroleum Operating
Immediately after the pandemic outbreak in Kazakhstan, Karachaganak Petroleum Operating BV (KPO) supported the Central District Hospital of Aksai and the Uralsk Infectious Diseases Hospital in purchasing the necessary medical equipment and materials for the prevention of the spread and treatment of coronavirus infection.
In particular, the medical institution in Aksai received modern equipment for intensive care, including artificial ventilation devices, as well as personal protective equipment, thermal imagers, equipment, and test systems for PCR analysis, kits for COVID-19 rapid testing, bedside monitors, ECG devices, syringe pumps, laboratory analyzers and other means of anti-infection control, as well as two ambulances.
The intensive care kit includes bedside monitors, infusion pumps, a blood analyzer, and functional equipment for resuscitation. The medical staff of the Central district hospital (CDH) was trained to use this equipment.
Also, KPO handed over sets of personal protective gear, including medical masks, protective coats, goggles, and gloves, provided to medical workers working in the CDH and at risk of infection. This gear is essential to improve hospital service quality and protect medical personnel who work directly with patients. All the transferred special equipment has the necessary certificates of conformity and meets modern quality and safety standards.
KPO also assisted the Burlinsky district's leadership in equipping checkpoints and patrolling the territory to strengthen control over compliance with quarantine conditions in the West Kazakhstan region. Besides, KPO supported the Birgemiz-Oral regional public fund activities, providing it with financial assistance.
In July 2020, within the KPO social investment program framework, significant repairs of the city polyclinic No. 7, located on the territory of the regional clinical hospital in Uralsk, were completed. It added 146 beds for patients with infectious diseases, and additional medical equipment was delivered, including 21 artificial lung ventilation devices.
Shell
A group of subsidiaries of foreign investors working in Kazakhstan including Shell Kazakhstan, Eni, INPEX North Caspian Sea LTD., Total, LUKOIL, Cameco, Air Liquide, Takeda, Freeport-McMoRan, Rio Tinto, as well as the Representative Office of Kazakhstan Foreign Investors Council Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan, have purchased and donated state-of-the-art intensive care medical equipment and individual protective sets to the Multi-Disciplinary Medical Centre (MDMC) of Nur-Sultan city, to help treatment of the COVID-19 patients. The overall cost of the equipment is over 200 mln KZT.
Following a request for specific medical equipment and supplies from the Department of Public Healthcare of Nur-Sultan city, the foreign investors collectively responded by purchasing the necessary equipment.
KazMunayGas
The National Company KazMunayGas, together with its subsidiaries and affiliated organizations, provided great sponsorship to the country's population during the pandemic.
In particular, 600 oxygen concentrators were purchased and distributed, including 40 to the Nur-Sultan City Hospital No. 3; 20 to the Health Department of the Karaganda region; 20 to the Health Department of the Akmola region; 20 to the Health Department of the North Kazakhstan region.
Ozenmunaigas JSC financed the creation and equipping of a temporary hospital on the basis of the former medical and preventive center Munaishi in the amount of 1.25 bln tenge. The acquisition and opening of a medical laboratory for COVID-19 testing for the Company's employees and residents of Zhanaozen were financed in the amount of 183 mln tenge. At the expense of the joint-stock Company, four roadblocks were built and equipped in Zhanaozen.
As material assistance and encouragement to medical workers of Zhanaozen who directly participated in the fight against COVID-19, 34.35 mln tenge was allocated.
Embamunaigas has allocated more than 500 mln tenge to the Birgemiz-Atyrau Foundation and the Atyrau Regional Hospital. The money was spent on the purchase of medical equipment (oxygen concentrators for ventilators), the implementation of a medical gas supply system to equip operating units, intensive care units, dialysis centers, and pharmacological departments. The money is also intended to purchase personal protective equipment in the Zhylyoy District Hospital to provide quarantine hospitals in the Bereke microdistrict (Atyrau) with appliances and hygiene supplies.
In addition, support was provided to the local administration of Isatay, Makat, Zhylyoy, and Kyzylkogin districts in organizing roadblocks, carrying out disinfection works, and supporting socially vulnerable segments of the population.
Embi residents voluntarily collected more than 1 million tenge, which was sent to support medical workers and police officers isolated in quarantine. Also, in the oil and gas production departments of Zhaiykmunaygas and Kainarmunaygas, oil workers assisted families from socially vulnerable categories of the population of the Isatay and Kyzylkogin districts of the Atyrau region.
Mangistaumunaigaz JSC purchased and transferred three ambulances to the region's medical institutions, 15 UAZ cars for rural outpatient clinics, 20 ALVs, and a computer tomograph. The Company also financed evacuation flight on the Aktau-Moscow-Aktau route, daily meals for medical workers, employees of roadblocks, and patrol services. In total, 450 mln tenge was allocated to form the stabilization fund of medicines and medical devices.
Karazhanbasmunai JSC provided sponsorship to the local administration of the Mangystau region and Tupkaragan district for the purchase of medical equipment and materials, the involvement of doctors from the Russian Federation, as well as targeted social assistance in the form of food.
Other divisions and subsidiaries of the national Company actively provided sponsorship.
PetroKazakhstan
As part of the assistance to the Kyzylorda region in the fight against COVID-19, PetroKazakhstan Kumkol Resources JSC allocated 58 mln tenge to install an oxygen station in the Kazala interdistrict hospital. The Company also continued to support sponsored children's organizations that it has been helping for many years, including the Shapagat rehabilitation center for disabled children, the Baldauren kindergarten for children from large and low-income families Atameken children's village, where children without parents live.
During the pandemic, PetroKazakhstan Oil Products LLP provided support to Shymkent's administration, allocating 200 mln tenge for the purchase of artificial lung ventilators and other needs of medical institutions in the city, and also transferred 4,000 medical masks and 300 protective suits to the local administration. Humanitarian assistance was also provided to the temporary hospital of Shymkent City Hospital No. 2, which was at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 by purchasing 10,000 medical masks and 1,000 protective suits.
The Council of PKOP LLP Young Specialists, together with the Youth Resource Center of Shymkent, held a charity event, Zhanga zhylu, to support 100 families in need from Enbekshi, Abai, Al-Farabi, and Karatau districts. Food baskets containing basic necessities were prepared, and volunteers from PetroKazakhstan Oil Products' youth, maintaining the safety rules, handed over these food baskets to families in need. The campaign was held in support of the Biz birgemiz! Project.
On December 30, in Shymkent's administration, an award ceremony based on the results of the national contest Paryz-2020 was held. Deputy Mayor of the city Maksut Isakhov presented a letter of gratitude on behalf of the Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan to PKOP LLP for the Company's contribution and active support of the region during the pandemic.
CNPC
In September 2020, as part of the Biz birgemiz! campaign, the CNPC Central Asia facilities – the Shymkent Oil Refinery and the administrative building in Almaty – hosted ceremonies for the transfer of material assistance from CNPC, and its Kazakhstani partner represented by KazMunayGas JSC, to the city of Shymkent and the Almaty region in the form of oxygen concentrators in the amount of 50 units to each of the regions.
The ceremony was attended by Vice-Presidents of CNPC Central Asia Jiang Shi and Lee Jung Hong. The local authorities and the public highly appreciated the charity event. Deputy Mayor of Almaty region Batyrzhan Baizhumanov noted that the provided oxygen concentrators are of great importance and will be distributed among the region's medical institutions. First Deputy Mayor of Shymkent Shyngys Mukan expressed sincere gratitude to CNPC for the financial assistance provided, noting that the Shymkent Oil Refinery also repeatedly provided protective masks, protective suits, and other necessary means, providing excellent support to the city of Shymkent in the fight against coronavirus infection.
As part of the humanitarian assistance to combat COVID-19, CNPC and KMG have allocated funds to the Halyk Charity Fund in the amount of 4 bln tenge. These funds will be used to fight against the epidemic for the purchase of medicines, protective equipment, computerized tomographs, ambulances, ventilators, and other necessary medical equipment.
CNPC-AktobeMunaiGas JSC, in the framework of cooperation with the Aktobe region administration, allocated about 900 mln tenge to support the health of the region and the implementation of social projects.
Caspian Pipeline Consortium
On October 30, 12 ambulances were transferred to regional medical institutions in Atyrau. Off-road ambulances on the basis of 4x4 UAZ vehicles were purchased with the support of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. The hand-over ceremony of car keys was attended by Makhambet Dosmukhambetov, Governor of the region, and Kairgeldy Kabyldin, CPC-K Deputy General Director, RoK Government Relations.
The new cars will be delivered to hospitals of Kurmangazy, Isatay, Kyzylkogin, Makat, and Makhambet districts and the regional first-aid station.