The technical clarification process is ongoing for the second soil remediation project for cleaning up spilt oil contaminants in the south of Kuwait.

The project is known as the second South Kuwait Excavation, Transportation and Remediation Project (SKETR-2).

It has been split into three zones and the total value of the three lowest bids is $455.2m. The packages will process 8.5 million cubic metres of contaminated soil.

The clarification process is expected to take one month or more, according to industry sources. The anticipated award will boost the Kuwait projects market, which has underperformed this year.

“There is an ongoing dialogue between the lowest bidders and KOC,” said one source. “They are talking about what kind of processes are going to be used and how they are going to treat different areas that have different levels of contamination.

“Areas with higher levels of contamination are likely to require the use of soil washing technologies, while in other areas with less contamination it may be possible to treat them solely with bioremediation techniques.”

SKETR-2 is the third contract of its kind to be tendered under the multibillion-dollar Kuwait Environmental Remediation Programme (Kerp).

SKETR-2 addresses pollution in the country’s south, where there is a higher quantity of contaminated soil.

The bid deadline was extended several times after contractors requested more time to prepare their bids.

Originally, the contract was tendered in October 2021 by Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public Tenders (Capt), with a bid deadline of 23 January 2022.

In 2021, many of KOC’s planned tenders were delayed and cancelled due to budget issues and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The funds for the project are coming from the UN and should not be impacted by budget pressures in Kuwait’s state-owned oil companies, according to industry sources.

Bids were submitted for the two other large remediation contracts, consisting of five separate packages, at the end of 2020 and contracts were awarded in 2021.

The third tender will be the final major contract award of this phase of the remediation project, according to sources.

Kerp is the largest environmental remediation project in the world and was established by the UN Compensation Commission to allow Kuwait to address the ecological damage resulting from the 1990-91 Gulf War.