State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is preparing to tender its biggest remediation contract to date, according to industry sources.

The scope of the project will include processing three million square metres of contaminated soil.

KOC is currently evaluating bids for a bioremediation project, which will process between 200,000 and 300,000 square metres of contaminated soil.

Bioremediation is the use of either naturally occurring or deliberately introduced microorganisms to consume and break down environmental pollutants in order to clean a polluted site.

“The latest tender, which is being prepared at the moment, is far bigger than the bioremediation contract,” an industry source said.

“Tendering the new project will be a significant milestone in the process of cleaning up after the Gulf War.”

Industry sources also said that KOC has recently completed two landfill projects that were designed to dispose of the most contaminated soil.

One of the landfill projects was located in North Kuwait and was undertaken by Kuwait-based Alghanim International General Trading & Contracting.

The contract value for the landfill in the north was $100m.

A second similar landfill project has also been completed in South Kuwait, according to industry sources.

Initially, Kuwait planned to bury soil with high levels of contamination (above 18 per cent oil) in 16 giant landfills.

Surveys found that there was about 26 million cubic metres of this sludge that needed to be cleared.

Fears that these large toxic landfills would cause problems for future generations prompted Kuwait to conduct studies into whether using new technologies such as bioremediation to break down the crude was financially viable.

It is expected that using bioremediation will dramatically reduce the number of landfills needed.