Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 30 — For every dollar the world invests in protecting or restoring nature, thirty dollars are spent on activities that degrade it. (UNEP, State of Finance for Nature 2026)
Cases / Oil, gas and coal operations · Kazakhstan · 2020–2022

NCOC marine navigation channels to the Kashagan field, North Caspian (2021–2022)

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured. Accounts differ ↓
Details not on record: 2 none on record · 1 not disclosed · 1 not measured · 3 disputed See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Effect of the channel dredging on bottom organisms, fish and seals
  • Company or project NCOC: Impact limited to the construction period; summer and autumn 2021 monitoring showed no significant impact on zooplankton and no negative trend in fish; turbidity plume impacts stayed below predicted thresholds and biota matched the baseline in the environmental assessment. Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (NCOC statement)
  • Government and regulators Dyusenbay Turganov, member of the Mazhilis: Warned of 100% death of bottom organisms over large areas and of turbidity settling across the northern Caspian; asked for a transboundary environmental impact assessment. Inbusiness.kz
  • Communities and civil society Laura Malikova and Kirill Osin (October 2020): Malikova said dredging could destroy bottom sediments and lower water quality; Osin asked where the saline spoil would go, warning it could add dust, and said the project must be presented to scientists and the public. Azattyq Rýhy
  • Communities and civil society Laura Malikova (January 2026): NCOC's dredging in the northern Caspian disrupted feeding grounds for fish and seals and accelerated shallowing. The Astana Times

The North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) dredged 56 km of marine access channels to the Kashagan offshore islands in 2021–2022, citing a fall of more than one metre in the north-eastern Caspian level since 2005. NCOC reported no significant impact in its own monitoring; a Kazakh member of parliament and environmentalists warned of harm to bottom organisms and fish; the cost was not disclosed.

56 kmLength of marine access channels dredged by NCOC for the Kashagan field
NCOC, 2020–2022; more than 18.5 million m3 planned for removal; cost not disclosed by NCOC.

Status As of December 2022 (latest NCOC report): dredging completed; NCOC reported no significant impact in its own monitoring; the cost was not disclosed and no independent monitoring was found.

What?
NCOC dredged 56 km of marine access channels to the Kashagan offshore islands, citing the fall in the north-eastern Caspian level. Lada.kz
Where?
North-eastern Caspian Sea, Atyrau region, between the Kashagan offshore islands. Lada.kz
When?
Hearings 21 September 2020; dredging from spring 2021; reported completed 8 December 2022. Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (NCOC statement)
Who?
Gained
  • NCOC and its shareholders — Kept vessel access to the Kashagan offshore facilities; NCOC said production could halt in 2027 without the channels Azattyq Rýhy
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • Bottom organisms, fish and seals — Harm alleged by Turganov, Malikova and Osin; NCOC reported no significant impact in its own monitoring; no independent measurement found Inbusiness.kz
Why?
NCOC said falling water impeded vessel navigation, icebreaker operations and emergency evacuation, and could halt production in 2027. Azattyq Rýhy
How?
Three cutter-suction dredgers and one mechanical dredger, with a turbidity-reducing "cooking pot" technique, avoiding restricted zones and the seal pupping season on ice. Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (NCOC statement)
6 of 6 questions (what, who, where, when, why, how) have an answer on record

What happened

The record, in order.

NCOC, the operator of the Kashagan oil field, held public hearings in September 2020 on "Marine Navigation Channels": two channels totalling 56 km, 80 to 115 m wide, with 10 turning basins of 325 to 380 m, and more than 18.5 million cubic metres of seabed material to be removed over about 29 million square metres. NCOC said average annual water levels in the north-eastern Caspian had fallen and that the level there had dropped by more than one metre since 2005, according to Boris Kim, head of its ice and hydrometeorology department. The company gave the purposes as safe icebreaker navigation and emergency evacuation and said that without the channels planned maintenance in 2022 would not take place and production could halt in 2027. It did not disclose the cost, which Lada.kz reported it called preliminary and a commercial secret. About 100 people attended the hearings, according to Azattyq Rýhy.

Mazhilis deputy Dyusenbay Turganov asked the government in May 2021 to verify the legality and advisability of the project and to require a transboundary environmental impact assessment. He said the hearings were held on 21 September 2020 but the assessment was not posted on the regional department's website, and he warned of "100% death of bottom organisms" (translated from Russian) over large areas. Environmentalist Laura Malikova and activist Kirill Osin raised the disposal of saline spoil, dust and effects on feeding grounds. NCOC said noise and vibration would be temporary and described a wildlife monitoring procedure with independent observers. No response from NCOC or a ministry to the deputy's request was reported in the article reviewed.

Dredging began in spring 2021. NCOC said on 30 June 2022 that about 44 of the 56 km were complete, with three cutter-suction dredgers and one mechanical dredger, and that summer and autumn 2021 monitoring showed no significant impact on zooplankton and no negative trend in fish. At a round table in Atyrau on 8 December 2022 NCOC reported the dredging completed, with a workforce of about 300, turbidity plume impacts below predicted thresholds, water quality and biota matching the baseline in its environmental assessment, and a seal population estimate of about 311,000 in 2022. In January 2026 Malikova said that dredging in the northern Caspian by NCOC disrupted feeding grounds for fish and seals and accelerated shallowing, according to the Astana Times; NCOC's statements in the sources reviewed do not respond to that claim. Court et al. (2025) wrote that operators of offshore oil facilities in the northern Caspian were dredging channels to maintain shipping logistics.

  1. 2020NCOC public hearings on the marine navigation channels (21 September); channels planned from 2021 to the end of 2022
  2. 2021Deputy Dyusenbay Turganov asks the government to verify the project and require a transboundary assessment (reported 26 May); dredging starts in spring
  3. 2022About 44 of 56 km complete (30 June); NCOC reports dredging completed (8 December)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“Shoaling may impede marine vessel navigation”

“100% death of bottom organisms”

Dyusenbay Turganov, member of the Mazhilis · 26 May 2021 · translated from Russian · Inbusiness.kz

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Effect of the channel dredging on bottom organisms, fish and seals
Company or project
NCOC

Impact limited to the construction period; summer and autumn 2021 monitoring showed no significant impact on zooplankton and no negative trend in fish; turbidity plume impacts stayed below predicted thresholds and biota matched the baseline in the environmental assessment.

Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (NCOC statement)
Government and regulators
Dyusenbay Turganov, member of the Mazhilis

Warned of 100% death of bottom organisms over large areas and of turbidity settling across the northern Caspian; asked for a transboundary environmental impact assessment.

Inbusiness.kz
Communities and civil society
Laura Malikova and Kirill Osin (October 2020)

Malikova said dredging could destroy bottom sediments and lower water quality; Osin asked where the saline spoil would go, warning it could add dust, and said the project must be presented to scientists and the public.

Azattyq Rýhy
Communities and civil society
Laura Malikova (January 2026)

NCOC's dredging in the northern Caspian disrupted feeding grounds for fish and seals and accelerated shallowing.

The Astana Times
Public consultation on the channels
Company or project
NCOC

Held public hearings on the project; the environmental impact assessment was approved as part of the project documentation and discussed with the public and government agencies.

Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (NCOC statement)
Government and regulators
Dyusenbay Turganov

The hearings were held on 21 September 2020 but the assessment was not posted on the regional natural resources department's website; NCOC had not published sea-level forecasts through 2038.

Inbusiness.kz
Press and investigations
Azattyq Rýhy

About 100 people attended; activist Kirill Osin was reportedly not invited.

Azattyq Rýhy

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

Recorded

  • Two channels of 56 km combined, 80–115 m wide, 10 turning basins, more than 18.5 million m3 planned for removal; cost not disclosed.
    Lada.kz
  • NCOC's ice and hydrometeorology head stated a level fall of more than one metre in the north-eastern Caspian since 2005; NCOC gave a 25% probability that the annual mean level near Kashagan would fall below -0.76 m (Caspian height system) by 2025.
    Azattyq Rýhy
  • NCOC reported the dredging completed on 8 December 2022 and its own monitoring results (turbidity below predicted thresholds; biota as in the baseline).
    Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (NCOC statement)
  • Court et al. (2025) wrote that operators of offshore oil production facilities in the northern Caspian were dredging channels to maintain shipping logistics.
    University of Leeds / White Rose Research Online
  • No independent monitoring result for the dredging appears in the sources reviewed.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) (October 2020; 30 June 2022; 8 December 2022): Said the channels were needed for navigation and evacuation, that noise and vibration would be temporary, that works avoided restricted zones and the seal pupping season, and that monitoring showed no significant impact; treated the cost as a commercial secret. · Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (NCOC statement)
  • Government of Kazakhstan (26 May 2021): No response to Deputy Turganov's request to verify the project and require a transboundary assessment was reported in the article reviewed. · Inbusiness.kz

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Fall in level in the north-eastern Caspian since 2005
more than 1 m
NCOC (Boris Kim), 2020
Dredged channels
56 km
NCOC, completed December 2022
Effect on biota
no significant impact (operator's own monitoring)
NCOC, June and December 2022; no independent measurement found
Caspian seal population estimate
about 311,000
Reported by NCOC at the December 2022 round table

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Key earnings undisclosedBenefit not measuredNo independent ecological evaluation

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
  • Disputed Effect of the channel dredging on bottom organisms, fish and seals

Accounts

  • Disputed Public consultation on the channels

Record

  • Not disclosed Not disclosed: the cost of the channels. NCOC treated the estimate as a commercial secret.
  • Disputed Disputed: the effect on nature. NCOC reports no significant impact in its own monitoring; Turganov warned of 100% death of bottom organisms; Malikova says the dredging disrupted feeding grounds and accelerated shallowing.
  • None on record None on record in the sources reviewed: an independent measurement of the dredging's effect on bottom organisms, fish or seals, or a response by NCOC or a ministry to the deputy's request for a transboundary assessment.
  • None on record None on record in the sources reviewed: the place of disposal of the dredged spoil, which activists asked about in 2020.

Did the harm stop?

The channels were completed in December 2022 according to NCOC; the sources reviewed give no later monitoring result, and the water level continued to fall.

Who paid?

NCOC and its shareholders presumably carried the cost, but the sources reviewed do not state who paid or how much.

Sources

Voices on record: ✓ Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society✓ Researchers

Company or project

  1. NCOC Updates on the Progress of Dredging Activities (NCOC statement, republished by Kaspika)
    Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (NCOC statement) · 2022-07-01
  2. NCOC Held Round Table Meeting (NCOC statement, republished by Kaspika)
    Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (NCOC statement) · 2022-12-10

Press and investigations

Researchers

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Carbon and conservation finance

Baseline
The projected scenario of what would have happened without a project, such as an expected rate of deforestation. Credits are issued for the difference between the baseline and what actually happened, so an inflated baseline produces more credits.

Law and courts

Arbitration
A private dispute process in which an appointed arbitrator, instead of a court, decides the case.

Insurance

Underwriter
An insurer, or a person at an insurer, who assesses a risk and decides whether and on what terms to insure it.
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