The Lukoil Overseas Project is an IFC-financed investment to develop the fields and increase crude oil and condensate production in the Karachaganak Oil and Gas Condensate Field in the Western Kazakstan Oblast. CAO has received three complaints in relation to this project. In April 2007, Green Salvation Ecological Society, a civil society organization based in Kazakhstan, lodged a complaint with CAO on behalf of villagers in Berezovka. This second complaint raised the following concerns:

1. Resizing of the sanitary protection zone and relocation of villagers;

2. Violations of both IFC policies/operating standards and national and environmental protection laws and national covenants;

3. Emissions to air.

The issues raised in this second complaint were broadly similar to those raised by community groups in the first complaint lodged in September 2004. It raised concerns about the same impact of the project on villagers’ health and on their quality of life as the first complaint, but in the context of the legality of the national permissions and licenses under which the project operates. CAO Ombudsman determined that the parties were unwilling to seek resolution through a collaborative process. In November 2007, an Assessment Report was released and the case was transferred to CAO Compliance for appraisal.