Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

Transporting hydrocarbons to processing facili- ties can also pose a threat. This applies more to pipelines during operation (rather than tankers), and the potential for accidents also remains. Taking into account increased levels of seis- mic activity in various parts of the Caspian Sea (which affects the Middle and Southern Caspi- an to a greater extent), laying pipes in such areas is fraught with accidents and extensive oil spills (Kashin 2017) Despite the safety precautions that are taken, there are genuine risks of damage or malfunction as- sociated with offshore pipeline operation. These risks include pipeline defects, non-standard tech- nical processes and procedures, human hazards, geological processes and phenomena, natural cli- matic and geological factors, the activities of third parties, and scientific, industrial and military ac- tivities in the vicinity of offshore pipelines. Based on an analysis of statistical data about off- shore pipeline accidents, it has been found that, taking into account measures to improve reli- ability and safety, the offshore pipeline accident rate has fallen consistently and is currently in the range of 0.02– 0.03 accidents per year per 1,000 km of pipeline. For comparison, in the Russian Federation the average accident rate is 0.17 ac- cidents per year per 1,000 km for gas pipelines and 0.25 accidents per year per 1,000 km for oil pipelines (Neftegaz 2015).

The Astrakhan Transport Hub, including the ports of Astrakhan and Olya, the port railway stations and Aksarayskaya border station, is being devel- oped in conjunction with the creation of the In- ternational North–South Transport Corridor (IN- STC), connecting Astrakhan, Baku and Tehran, and the increase in the capacity of the Astrakhan Transport Hub to 30 million tons per year. Regarding marine transport development, the Astrakhan Water Transport Hub will be mod- ernized as part of the development of the INSTC, and car ferry crossings to the countries border- ing the Black Sea and Caspian Sea basins will be established from the Caucasus ports, Novorossi- ysk, Olya and elsewhere. It is expected that the existing transport capacity of the Russian Federation sector of the Caspian basin will increase by 6.0 million tons per year (energy and raw materials scenario) or by 9.0 mil- lion tons per year (innovative scenario), and will reach approximately 30.4 million tons (energy and raw materials scenario) or 33.4 million tons (in- novative scenario) by 2030. The main growth will come from developing the ports of Olya (adding a second cargo area) and Makhachkala (Govern- ment of the Russian Federation 2010). The new international port in Turkmenbashi was commissioned on 2 May 2018. The port project was developed in accordance with the international Green Port standard, an import- ant point in terms of conserving the ecology of the Caspian Sea. During construction of the port, consideration was given to environmental aspects and the ecological state of the Caspian Sea (Komarov 2018). 6.6. Submarine cables and pipelines In addition to the direct adverse impact (distur- bance of the seabed surface entailing the death of benthic organisms, the formation of large vol- umes of suspended matter covering large areas and causing both plankton death and a signifi- cant reduction in productivity), laying pipes also results in secondary pollution. This is particu- larly evident in areas near river mouths, where significant proportion of the pollutants carried along with river run-off is deposited.

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