Kuwait has awarded a $435m contract to a Kuwaiti/South Korean consortium to create a new integrated security system covering all Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) facilities as part of a wider programme to increase security in the small, oil-rich state.

A source close to the deal says that it was awarded to the local Imco Engineering and South Korea’s Samsung SDS, the IT subsidiary of Samsung Group, in mid-December.

The consortium’s bid of KD125m ($435m) beat the KD169m offered by Romania’s UTI group and Grintek Ewation of South Afria’s price of KD184m.

The companies will build a brand new security system to protect and monitor all KOC-run areas, which accounts for around 80 per cent of the country’s landmass across 94 different locations.

The four-year deal includes the construction of fences to surround the company’s facilities and the supply and installation of a huge network of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras linked into a series of sub-control rooms, and the installation of new computer systems to handle the data provided by the cameras. The consortium will also build the sub-control rooms and a central control room at an undisclosed location

The security system is the first of a series planned by the Kuwaiti government, the source close to the deal says.

“After the [July 2005] terrorist attacks in London, the government decided they needed to build a CCTV security system like they have in the UK,” the source says. “Because of all the red tape in Kuwait, this is the first deal that they have managed to put through. It is the biggest, though, because KOC owns most of the land outside of the cities for exploration and production.”