Kazakh oil firm says some employees afraid to work

17 Dec 2011 03:28 Source: Reuters // Reuters ALMATY, Dec 17 (Reuters) - KazMunaiGas Exploration Production said on Saturday that some of its employees had failed to show up for work at its Uzenmunaigas unit due to fears for their own safety and that of their families after violent clashes in a nearby city killed 10. The London-listed company said Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry was providing armed security at key oil production units following the clashes in the city of Zhanaozen on Friday. KazMunaiGas EP said in a statement it was maintaining daily oil production levels by keeping employees working round-the-clock. (Reporting By Robin Paxton; Editing by Dmitry Solovyov) KAZMUNAIGAS EP SAYS INTERIOR MINISTRY FORCES ARE PROVIDING ARMED SECURITY AT KEY PRODUCTION UNITS Some Kazakh oilmen avoid work after deadly clashes 17 Dec 2011 05:50 Source: Reuters // Reuters * Armed security at oil facilities in western Kazakhstan * Rights body says communications down, calls for restraint * Prosecutor says 10 killed in Independence Day clashes (Adds interior minister, background) By Robin Paxton ALMATY, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Some employees of KazMunaiGas Exploration Production are staying away from work because they fear for their safety after violent clashes killed at least 10 people in a western Kazakh oil city, the company said on Saturday. London-listed KMG EP said Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry was providing armed security at key oil production facilities after the clashes on Friday, when a crowd set fire to the headquarters of its Uzenmunaigas unit in the city of Zhanaozen. The company said in a statement it was maintaining daily oil production levels by keeping employees working round the clock. "Some Uzenmunaigas workers failed to appear for the night shift and the morning shift on December 16 and 17," KMG EP said. "This can be explained by the fact workers are afraid for their own security and the security of their family members." Public protests are scarce in Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest economy and oil producer, where President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ruled with a firm hand for more than 20 years and has overseen massive foreign investment, mainly in oil and gas. The unusually violent clashes in Zhanaozen, a city of 90,000 people about 150 km (95 miles) inland from the Caspian Sea, marred celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence from the Soviet Union. Sacked oil workers clashed with riot police in the city's central square. Ten people were killed and buildings and cars were set on fire, Prosecutor-General Askhat Daulbayev said. Interior Minister Kalmukhanbet Kasymov said the situation in Zhanaozen was under control and around 70 people had been arrested. He said 75 people had been taken to hospital and six police officers were among the injured, Interfax reported. "The disorder in Zhanaozen has been suppressed. The situation in the city is calm and nobody is on the square," Interfax quoted Kasymov as saying. STRIKING OIL WORKERS Thousands of KazMunaiGas EP workers began a months-long strike in May, demanding better pay and conditions. The company, calling the strikes illegal, sacked 989 workers and has said production will fall 8.5 percent short of its target this year. KMG EP has said 2,500 people were on strike at the height of the dispute. Representatives of the striking workers have put the maximum number at almost 16,000. Uzenmunaigas employs 9,000 people, but the strikes were not confined to this unit alone. Workers at the Karazhanbasmunai field, a joint venture between KMG EP and Chinese state-owned investment company CITIC, also downed tools briefly in May. Although the strikes have ended, sacked workers and sympathetic citizens have held regular protests in Zhanaozen's central square since. This spilled into violence when protesters stormed a stage erected for an Independence Day celebration. Daulbayev, the prosecutor-general, said law-enforcement officers had been attacked by "hooligans" wielding firearms and "cold steel". Reports circulating on social networking websites said the death toll was higher than 10 and that police had opened fire as the disturbances got out of control. These reports could not be verified independently. The prosecutor-general did not say who had been killed or how. Local hospitals did not pick up the receiver when Reuters called, and New York-based Human Rights Watch said at least some mobile phone and Internet access had been shut down in the city. "Without a means of communication with the outside world, people in Zhanaozen are extremely vulnerable," said Mihra Rittmann, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch also called on the government to observe "human rights norms" as they restore order. "Even in times of unrest and violence, when police restore order they should do so without using excessive force," Rittman said in a statement. The rights group also said around 100 people were detained and later released after a peaceful rally in the regional centre of Aktau, a larger city on the Caspian coast. KazMunaiGas EP's London-traded stock closed down 4.0 percent on Friday, versus a decline of only 0.4 percent in the wider oil and gas sector. (Additional reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva and Dmitry Solovyov; editing by Tim Pearce) ===================== Protests spread in troubled Kazakh oil region 18 Dec 2011 10:21 Source: Reuters // Reuters * Hundreds of oilmen hold protest rally in Aktau * New violence near village in Kazakh oil region * Riots unprecedented in nation's recent history * President imposes state of emergency on oil city (Adds OSCE statement, quotes, details) By Robin Paxton AKTAU, Kazakhstan, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Protests in Kazakhstan's oil-producing Mangistau region, unprecedented in the Central Asian state's recent history, spread on Sunday to the regional capital, where hundreds of angry protesters faced reinforced police troops. Late on Saturday, one person was killed and 11 people were wounded in a fresh clash with police in the village of Shetpe, bringing the total official death toll in the western region to 12 and the number of wounded to nearly 100. President Nursultan Nazarbayev declared a 20-day state of emergency on Saturday in the oil city of Zhanaozen, in the same region, after at least 11 people were killed there in violence that broke out on Friday. Public protests are rare in Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest economy and biggest oil producer, where the 71-year-old Nazarbayev has overseen more than $120 billion in foreign investment during more than two decades in power, but tolerates little dissent and puts stability before democratic freedoms. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it was worried by the confirmed death toll and urged the Kazakh authorities to use force proportionately, respect human rights and hold a transparent investigation. On Sunday morning, around 500 angry protesters gathered near the main square of Aktau, a city of 160,000 on the Caspian Sea, some 2,600 km (1,600 miles) southwest of the capital Astana. Braving biting frost, they faced a large force of black-clad riot police holding shields, a Reuters correspondent reported from the scene. Some policemen were armed with automatic rifles. "Take the troops out of Mangistau!" read a long banner in Kazakh held by a dozen protesters. One protester, Sarsekesh Bairbekov, said he had been fired by oil firm Karazhanbasmunai (KBM) in May. "I worked there for 20 years. I was a welder and lost an eye," the 58-year-old told Reuters. His wage was 120,000 tenge ($810) before he was fired. KBM is jointly owned by London-listed KazMunaiGas Exploration Production and CITIC, China's biggest state investment company. "We want them to take away the troops," Bairbekov said, referring to the state of emergency imposed in Zhanaozen after the riots. "They killed local people," he added, still wearing maroon-and-blue KBM overalls. Many protesters called into question the official death toll announced after the riots in Zhanaozen. One oil worker, who declined to be named, said he had just visited a blood donor centre in Aktau. "It is working round-the-clock. If only 10 people were killed, why is it working round-the-clock?" he asked. Nurlan Mukhanov, deputy chief doctor at the Mangistau regional hospital in Aktau, said 35 wounded had been brought from Zhanaozen and another three from Shetpe. "The majority have gunshot wounds," Mukhanov said. "We should be ready for any situation." "KAZAKHS SHOOTING KAZAKHS" A large group of people supporting Zhanaozen protesters stopped a train carrying more than 300 passengers on Saturday, the Kazakh prosecutor-general's office said in a statement. Most later left but some 50 "hooligans" set the diesel locomotive on fire and moved into the nearby village of Shetpe, setting the New Year tree on fire, smashing shop windows and throwing petrol bombs at police, the statement said. "Taking into account the fact that the hooligans presented a real threat to the life and health of peaceful citizens and policemen, the latter were forced to use weapons," it said. One of the 12 people brought to a local hospital with gunshot wounds died later, the statement said. In Aktau, numerous splashy posters of Nazarbayev's Nur Otan ruling party dot the dusty streets with green and white painted Soviet-era apartment blocks. "The authorities don't really know what is happening in their own home," said Ivan Rabayev, a 74-year-old retired construction worker. "Kazakhs are shooting Kazakhs." The riots began on Friday when sacked oil workers and sympathisers stormed a stage erected for an Independence Day party and smashed sound equipment in central Zhanaozen, a city of some 90,000 people. They later set fire to the city hall, the headquarters of a local oil company, a hotel and dozens of other buildings, including trade centres and houses. They also burned cars and buses and plundered cash machines. The clashes soured national celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union and unnerved a government focused on stability and economic growth. Nazarbayev, a former steelworker who has overseen rapid market reforms but tolerates little dissent in his hydrocarbon-rich nation of 16.6 million, declared a state of emergency and a curfew in Zhanaozen until Jan. 5. Public protests and strikes are banned, while movement around Zhanaozen and access to and from the city is restricted. State-controlled KazMunaiGas EP, which sacked 989 workers in Zhanaozen after staff went on strike for better pay and conditions in May, said 2,500 people were on strike at the height of the dispute. Representatives of the striking workers have put the maximum number at almost 16,000. One sacked oilman, who declined to be named, said: "People have been on strike for seven months and the authorities are saying that hooligans and alcoholics are causing this trouble. It's all lies." (Reporting by Robin Paxton and Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Tim Pearce) ========================