Kuwait delays soil remediation scheme

12 April 2011

June deadline set for schemes to deal with environmental damage from Iraqi invasion

State-upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has pushed back the deadline for proposals by two weeks to 14 June for three deals worth an estimated total of $200m to perform clean up services at its oil fields in the the south east of the country.

KOC has prequalified 25 local and international engineering firms for the deals to treat environmental damage at the oil fields caused by the 1991 Iraqi invasion. The south eastern fields have been divided into three groups known as A, B and C.

A larger deal for the clean-up of thousands of oil lakes formed by the Iraqi invasion and subsequent retreat is expected to be tendered by KOC in August (MEED 8:4:11).

Some 2,400 oil lakes were formed over an area of almost 50 square kilometres as retreating Iraqi troops set fire to hundreds of oil wellheads. The oil lakes have formed a mixture of oil, sand and highly concentrated salts as a result of using seawater in extinguishing the oil-well fires after the war. 

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