A state environmental agency in Kazakhstan has fined an oil company in the west of the country $780,000 over a prolonged fire at one of its fields last year that caused one of the largest emissions of methane in history. The ecology department of the Mangystau regional government said on February 19 that methane concentrations at the Buzachi Neft-operated Karaturun field exceeded permissible levels by 480 times. The alarm over the leak was raised by geo-monitoring firm Kayrros SAS, which reported in July that it had produced satellite…
