Zhetybay is a major oil and gas field located 75 km to the east of the city of Aktau in the Karakiyaski area of the Mangystau region, Kazakhstan. The climate is continental, very dry. Permanent water streams and reservoirs are absent and desert vegetation is sparse. Oil and gas has been extracted here and brought to Aktau by pipelines until 1997. In association with the development of the oil fields in the 1960s many industrial, communications, housing, cultural, educational, health care facilities have been built, as the settlement has grown rapidly and today reaches about 11 000 people.
Abandoned oil extraction devices
Oil devices left here look often in poor condition and covered in some places covered with oil and corrosion. Equipment certainly is controlled and maintained by mining companies, but there is no certainty that contains all the risks of oil spills. Breakdowns happen and there are cases of local oil spill.
Tailing pond
Not far from Zhetybay is old limestone bricks quarry. For a few years the quarry was used as a landfill sludge. The landfill has been acted by the court as illegal and violates environmental laws. Despite this fact and the regional akim decision to remove tailing pond from this place, the problem is still not resolved properly.
