Kuwait’s state-owned upstream operator, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), is looking at offering about 15 contracts for companies to showcase oil-cleaning technologies, as it looks for new ways to clear contaminated soil from its deserts.

More than 50 companies with a variety of different technologies were contacted at the end of last year and invited to submit technical proposals.

Out of these 50, almost 30 have responded and as many as 15 could be awarded contracts to demonstrate their technology in soil remediation trials over the course of 2015, according to officials at KOC.

“We want them to come and showcase their technology,” said a source who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

“If we are impressed, the companies can move on to larger remediation projects that are due to come up later. We need to be confident in the technology and confident in the company.”

Kuwait needs to process an estimated 60 million cubic metres of contaminated soil, according to the KOC.

The trial contracts are likely to see the selected firms each remediate about 10,000 cubic metres of highly contaminated soil.

“Volumes of 10,000 cubic metres are currently being considered, but this could change as we are considering a wide range of strategies when it comes to how to take this forward,” said the source.

“The value of the demonstration has yet to be decided. Most of the firms have submitted technical bids, but KOC has yet to get the financial figures.”

The contracts will be part of Kuwait Environment Public Authority’s (Kepa’s) $2.9bn Kuwait Environmental Remediation Project (Kerp) to clean up polluted soil and lakes of crude left over from the First Gulf War, when retreating Iraqi troops set fire to hundreds of oil wells.

The project is funded by environmental reparation money the UN ordered Iraq to pay Kuwait.

The fires burned for 10 months before being extinguished, leaving behind a spill of about 22.5 million barrels of oil and damaging an area of 384 square kilometres.

Initially, Kuwait planned to bury soil that has high levels of contamination, but due to fears these large toxic landfills would cause problems for future generations, the government wants to clean the contaminated soil instead, cutting down the number of landfills needed.