Incessantly requested questions concerning the Caspian Cabals investigation

What’s the Caspian Cabals investigation?

The Caspian Cabals investigation reveals how Western oil giants — together with Chevron Corp., ExxonMobil Corp., Shell PLC, and Italy’s Eni S.p.A. — ignored bribery dangers and big price overruns to safe their stake in a important Kazakhstan-Russia pipeline, then delivered substantial management of it to the Kremlin.

What’s the Caspian pipeline? What’s the Caspian Pipeline Consortium?

The Caspian pipeline is an oil transport route originating on the supergiant Tengiz oil area in Kazakhstan and ending at a terminal situated close to the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. The pipeline is owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), whose shareholders embody Western companies similar to Chevron (15%) and Exxon (7.5%), Russia’s state pipeline firm (31%) and Kazakhstan’s state oil and fuel firm (20.75%).

What are a few of the key findings of the Caspian Cabals investigation?

Western governments envisioned the Caspian pipeline as a pathway to independence from Center Japanese oil and an instrument of post-Soviet prosperity and democracy. However Caspian Cabals exhibits it as an alternative enriched Russian and Kazakh elites, leaving a path of environmental destruction and corruption allegations in its wake.

ICIJ discovered the Western corporations that co-own the pipeline — and function the three oil fields that offer it — signed off on profitable contracts price a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to Putin cronies and a agency partially owned by the billionaire son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s former president. As a part of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, the businesses prioritized earnings, turning a blind eye to inflated budgets, rigged bids, and funds to subcontractors for work that by no means occurred.

In 2020, the Russian companion within the CPC, the state-owned pipeline firm Transneft, orchestrated an influence seize for management of the operation, sidelining the Western companions. Within the aftermath, CPC awarded a Transneft subsidiary a key contract price an extra $1 million per thirty days and paid a minimum of $18.9 million to the corporate that owns “Putin’s Palace” — an extravagant residence reportedly utilized by the Russian president — for an actual property lease.

CPC reduce corners on security and downplayed the severity of the 2021 oil spill on the CPC terminal on the Black Sea, considerably underreporting the quantity of oil misplaced. The consortium in the end paid a $98.7 million high quality for environmental injury in a Russia courtroom case. And in poverty-stricken cities close to the Kazakh oil fields that feed the pipeline, ICIJ interviewed villagers nonetheless grappling with continual diseases that the federal government and the homeowners denied had been associated to the oil operations.

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, CPC has confronted a minimum of 20 disruptions of exercise or suspensions of oil shipments. In a single case, Putin’s administration allegedly sought to “scare” the West and emphasize its energy over the oil market by exaggerating the size of a shutdown. In the meantime, as war-related sanctions loomed, Kazakhstan retained a U.S. lobbying agency for a contract, now price almost $4 million, to assist preserve the pipeline sanction-free and the oil flowing.

Learn extra from the investigation right here.

How does Russia revenue from the pipeline?

CPC paid roughly $321 million in taxes to Russian authorities in 2022, together with $96 million in taxes to the Russian federal authorities. ($321 million is the equal of roughly 70 new Russian tanks.) CPC additionally paid a minimum of $1.4 billion in dividends to Russian state-controlled corporations that personal shares within the pipeline; of that quantity, it has paid a minimum of $816 million for the reason that begin of the warfare in Ukraine.

Transneft owns 31% of CPC shares. Caspian Cabals exhibits how Transneft has expanded its management over the CPC pipeline — and subsequently Russia’s — through the years.

Why is the CPC pipeline important for Kazakhstan?

Kazakhstan has Central Asia’s biggest variety of confirmed oil reserves, making it probably the most resource-rich nation within the Caspian area. Three of Kazakhstan’s main oil and fuel fields — Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak — provide the Caspian pipeline. In 2023, the CPC pipeline carried 63.5 million tons* of oil to worldwide markets. Eighty-eight % of that got here from the Kazakh oil fields. Kazakhstan’s hydrocarbon sector generated about 20% of the nation’s gross home product in 2022.

*All figures in Caspian Cabals associated to grease manufacturing or the quantity of oil carried by the CPC pipeline are in metric tons to replicate the unique numbers that seem in supply materials.

Why isn’t the CPC pipeline sanctioned?

Authorities and lobbyists argue that whereas the pipeline carries some Russian oil, it’s important to Kazakhstan’s oil exports and will stay open. ICIJ’s reporting exhibits that Western oil companies and the Kazakh authorities have lobbied each U.S. officers and the European Fee to maintain the oil flowing since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They argue that shutting it down would adversely affect customers and the Kazakh financial system.

Who’re ICIJ’s companions on the Caspian Cabals investigation?

The investigation was led by ICIJ — the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit newsroom and world community of reporters — in collaboration with 26 media companions together with NRC, Der Spiegel, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Proekt, L’Espresso and Paper Path Media. Seventy-seven journalists from 24 international locations took half within the collaboration, which spanned two years.

Discover a full checklist of ICIJ’s companions right here.

Is Caspian Cabals primarily based on leaked information like ICIJ’s offshore investigations, similar to Cyprus Confidential and the Pandora Papers? What sources and paperwork are Caspian Cabals primarily based on?

Whereas Caspian Cabals attracts on some leaked information, it started with whistleblowers. Over two years, reporters interviewed a whole bunch of sources, together with firm insiders and former executives. They combed by tens of 1000’s of paperwork: leaked inside company data and confidential emails, contracts, audits, land data, and courtroom and regulatory filings.

5 whistleblowers alleged in interviews with ICIJ that Western oil corporations’ dealings in Russia or Kazakhstan included improper funds in violation of the U.S. Overseas Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. regulation that prohibits bribes to international officers.

How can I be part of an ICIJ investigation?

ICIJ welcomes new presents to collaborate with journalists and prioritizes these with a confirmed file of high-quality investigations. Journalists looking for to companion with ICIJ ought to e-mail information@icij.org. ICIJ solely companions with journalists.

How do I get in contact with ICIJ if I wish to share a tip or paperwork?

ICIJ ​encourages​ ​whistleblowers​ ​to ​submit​ ​all​ ​types​ ​of​ ​content material​ ​that​ ​may​ ​be​ ​of​ ​public​ ​concern​  — ​paperwork,​ ​images, video​ ​clips​ ​as​ ​effectively​ ​as​ ​story​ ​suggestions — and to take action securely. We​ ​settle for​ ​all​ ​info​ ​that​ ​relates​ ​to​ ​potential​ ​wrongdoing​ ​by​ ​company,​ ​authorities​ ​or public​ ​service​ ​entities​ ​in​ ​any​ ​nation,​ ​wherever​ ​in​ ​the​ ​world.​ ​We​ ​do​ ​our​ ​utmost​ ​to​ ​assure the​ ​confidentiality​ ​of​ ​our​ ​sources.

Learn how to contact us securely right here.

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