The project is aimed at increasing production capacity in SEK by 300,000 barrels a day (b/d) to 1.6 million b/d and at a later stage by a further 300,000 b/d. SEK is home to the Burgan oil field, the world's second largest oil reservoir, as well as the Umm Gudair and Minagish fields.

The contract was placed by the US' Chevron Corporation, which was awarded in early 2005 a contract extension by state-owned operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to provide technical expertise and support for its upstream operations. The technical services agreement (TSA) was worth KD 38.3 million ($132 million). WorleyParsons will augment Chevron's staff in an integrated team.

The increase in output capacity will go some way to meeting the state's ambitious production capacity target of 4 million b/d by 2020. The other main crude increment scheme is the proposed $8,500 million Project Kuwait upstream initiative.