| Residents of a farm in the Krasnodar region demand relocation Yesterday, residents of the Prorvensky village, Slavyansky district, Krasnodar Territory, demanded that Governor Alexander Tkachev urgently stop all gas production work that is being carried out in the immediate vicinity of their homes. In a letter to the governor, the farmers ask the authorities to move the gas wells to a distance determined by sanitary standards, or to provide them with new housing in a safe place.
The reason for the appeal was the unbearable conditions in which 72 residents of Prorvensky found themselves due to a major accident at the gas production tower No. 5 of Kubanburgaz, which occurred late in the evening of February 17. This new tower was installed just 300 meters from the farm. A fountain of gas and gas condensate burst into the atmosphere due to depressurization of the well. The cause of the accident was the drillers reaching a formation containing gas under pressure significantly exceeding the calculated one.
In a letter to the governor, Prorven residents report that they were evacuated to a neighboring village only eight hours after the gas release, and all this time people experienced attacks of suffocation, nausea and dizziness.
Now the consequences of the accident on the drilling rig are being eliminated by specialists from Kubanburgaz and Kubangazprom. Since it was not possible to plug the well using a special solution, they decided to set it on fire, after first dismantling all the tower structures and equipment. At this point, according to the Krasnodar Regional Department of Civil Emergency Situations, in the atmosphere in the area of the accident the methane content exceeded the norm by 4.3 times, and the hydrocarbon content by 63 times.
Nevertheless, on February 23, the residents of the village were brought back, reporting that the situation had returned to normal. The following picture appeared to their eyes: black smoke was pouring out from a torch that was blazing next to the houses, the height of which reached 30 meters, there was a strong smell of burning in the air, and all the farmsteads were covered with yellow sediment of unknown origin.
It has still not been possible to shut down the well, although the fire was extinguished two days ago. Gas condensate continues to gush out, infecting the entire area with harmful emissions.
Yesterday, the Social-Ecological Union of the Western Caucasus disseminated information that the site of this man-made accident is located on the territory of the Priazovsky state nature reserve of federal significance, that is, in an area that has specially protected status. The reserve regime excludes economic activities such as mining. In addition, Priazovsky is part of the wetlands protected by the Ramsar Convention ratified by Russia. In other words, according to environmentalists, Gazprom’s subsidiaries that conduct gas exploration and production near the Prorvensky farm violate not only Russian but also international law. Igor GLANIN, Krasnodar region |
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