State upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has pushed back the tender deadlines for two major schemes covering soil remediation and pressure maintenance at its oil fields.

Bids are now due on 20 May for the digging, removal and dumping of polluted oily soil at KOC’s oil fields in the north of Kuwait, rather than the original 8 April deadline.

The deal is part of a wider remediation of areas in the north of Kuwait contaminated by oil from fires lit by withdrawing Iraqi troops in 1991.

Proposals have also been pushed back to 6 May for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of pressure facilities at the Wara formation in southeast Kuwait. Bids were originally due on 15 April.

Twelve firms, including three international firms, have been prequalified to bid. KOC aims to pump up to 1 million barrels a day (b/d) of water into the Wara oil formation to help maintain production levels at its giant Burgan oil field, as it struggles to sustain output at the world’s second-largest oil reservoir.