Oil and gas services specialist Petrofac has bucked recent gloomy industry trends by winning a US$4Bn heavy oil development contract in Kuwait.
Petrofac is leading a consortium that includes Greek company Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) on a four year contract for the first phase of Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC) Lower Fars development in the north of Kuwait.
The scope of work covers both greenfield and brownfield facilities, engineering, procurement, construction, pre commissioning, Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) commissioning, start up and operations and maintenance work for the main central processing facility (CPF). Associated infrastructure and creation of a production support complex is also included.
A 162 kilometre pipeline will be built to transport heavy crude from the CPF to the South Tank Farm at Ahmadi. From there KOC has the option of sending it on to a proposed refinery at Al-Zour in the south of Kuwait.
The EPC elements are to be completed in 52 months, after which Petrofac and CCC will provide an integrated operations and maintenance team on site for a further eight months.
This initial phase of the Lower Fars scheme is expected to produce some 60,000 barrels of oil a day. The contract is expected to enhance employment prospects at Petrofac’s existing operations including Aberdeen where it employs 5,000 people and Woking where another 500 are based.
Subramanian Sarma, Managing Director of Petrofac's Onshore Engineering & Construction (OEC) business, said: “This is a significant award for Petrofac in one of our core markets and complements the ongoing projects we have in hand for both KOC and Kuwait National Petroleum Company.
“With a track record extending over the last 14 years, it represents our eleventh project in the country and reinforces the strategic importance of Kuwait as part of our OEC portfolio. We look forward to working closely with CCC and KOC to deliver the project safely and on time.”
