OREANDA-NEWS  On 06 March was announced, that Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V (KPO) jointly with the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MES) conducted the first meeting of the Kazakhstan Oil and Gas Operators Association (KOGOA) creation of which was suggested at the1st Asset Integrity and Industrial Safety Conference which was held in Aksai in November 2008.

The first meeting of KOGOA was attended by representatives of the State Control Committee for Emergency Situations and Industrial Safety of RoK MES, international oil companies, national technical institutes who came to discuss challenges of safe operations of industrial facilities of the oil and gas industry.

The goals of the meeting included development of the organisational guidelines, selection of the KOGOA leadership and establishing of working groups to address primary activities of the Association.

Commenting on the event, KPO Operations Director Antonio Baldassarre said: “KPO is very proud that our joint work with the RoK MES, KazMunaiGas and other Kazakhstan operators including North Caspian Operating B.V. and Tengizchevroil companies, has led to the creation of KOGOA, which will serve as a forum for representatives of operating companies and other industry related organisations to share best practice in the area of Asset Integrity and Industrial Safety and also to jointly develop solutions to common issues and problems. This association will also provide a unique opportunity to interface with the legislative framework within the Republic of Kazakhstan at a time when this legislation is moving towards a more risk based approach to the prevention of emergency situations.

“KPO has a lot to share with our industry colleagues. For example, last year we significantly improved our safety performance by having achieved a lost time injury frequency rate of 0.11. Two main drivers to our safety performance are attention to the human factor and adoption of a Risk management approach to Asset Integrity in strict conformance with international best practice. We were very proud to have our progress recognised at the annual DuPont Safety Awards in Switzerland. In addition, KPO has recently reached 25 mln man hours worked LTI free, which is truly a remarkable achievement”, added Antonio Baldassarre.

KPO is committed to environmental protection and creation of a workplace which is injury free. In addition to ISO 14001 Certification for our Environmental Management System received in 2008, the company has set the goal of achieving OHSAS 18001 certification during the course of 2009. This will further demonstrate the company’s commitment in controlling risk and improving HSE performance.