Kuwait sets May deadline for soil remediation deal

04 April 2011

After two decades state moves to deal with environmental damage from Iraqi invasion

State upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has set a 31 May deadline for proposals for three deals worth an estimated total of $210m to perform clean up services of environmental damage in oil fields of the south east of the country from the 1991 Iraqi invasion.

KOC announced that it had prequalified 25 local and international engineering and construction firms for the deals on 1 April after documents were submitted on 14 February. A pretender meeting will be held on 18 April (MEED 9:2:11).  

The south eastern fields have been divided into three groups: lots A, B and C.

KOC has also approached consultants to manage the project. According to a source close to the deal, Canadian Oil Recovering & Remediation Enterprises has the advantage of already running a pilot scheme along with the local National Cleaning Company of Kuwait (NCC). The Canadian firm signed a deal in 2009 to optimise NCC’s pilot facility at the oil waste landfill site in the Shuaiba Industrial Area in southern Kuwait, processing up to 20 tonnes of soil an hour.

A much larger tender for the clean up of the oil lakes formed in the 1991 Iraqi invasion and subsequent retreat is expected in August. A total of about 2,400 oil lakes were formed, covering an area of almost 50 square kilometres as retreating Iraqi troops set fire to more than 900 oil wellheads throughout the emirate. Following liberation, KOC set about draining the oil lakes that were created by the gushing oil before the wells were finally capped. Over time, 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. 

The contamination has caused extensive plant and animal mortality, seeping into the soil layers where it has reached fresh water aquifers. The cleanup is further complicated by the presence of unexploded ordinance, left behind by Iraqi forces around these areas.

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