Kuwait Oil Company

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Kuwait oil company
Industry Oil and gas industry
Founded1945;80 years ago (1945)
Headquarters,
Area served
Global
Key people
Ahmad Jaber Al-Eidan (CEO)
Products Petroleum
Natural gas
Owner Government of Kuwait
Parent Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
Website www.kockw.com

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), an oil company headquartered in Al Ahmadi, Kuwait, is a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, a government-owned holding company. Kuwait was the world's 10th largest petroleum and other liquids producer in 2010. [1] The company produced a total of 1.7 million barrels per day.

Contents

Kuwait's oil reserves have been nationalized since 1975, [2] with the KOC, established in 1979, [3] holding sole rights to the exploration and production of oil and gas within Kuwait. [4] KOC operations and activities of exploring and producing oil make up nearly 90% of the national budget, which is still highly dependent on oil in its resources.

Kuwait's oil reserves are estimated at 100 billion barrels. [5]

History

The Kuwait Oil Company Limited was established in 1934, through an alliance between the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and the American Gulf Oil Company, [6] and is currently a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

The oil concession rights were awarded to the company on 23 December 1934, [7] and it started drilling operations in 1936.

The first oil discovery was made in 1938 in the Burgan field, [8] which is still considered the second largest oil field in the world. Discoveries then followed in Magwa in 1951, Ahmadi in 1952, Raudhatain in 1955, Sabriya in 1957, and Minagish in 1959.

The commercial export of crude oil began in 1946. [9]

In August 1990, Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, ordered the occupation of Kuwait. But as Iraqi forces pulled out from Kuwait in 1991, they set set fire to over 700 Kuwaiti oil wells. The smoke plume above them initially stretched for 800 miles. Nearly 300 oil lakes formed on the surface of the desert, polluting the soil. An international coalition of firefighters battled the fires for months until the last well was finally capped on 6 November 1991. [10]

In 2005, KOC lowered its production plateau estimates for the Greater Burgan area from 2 million barrels per day to 1.7 million barrels per day over a 20-30 year period, citing field exhaustion. [11]

In 2013, KOC along with The Kuwait Government created the Kuwait Environmental Remediation Program (KERP) to help repair the aftermath of the Iraq Invasion of Kuwait.

In 2023, KOC signed contracts worth $1.73 billion expanding the KERP which aims at repairing the soil of oilfields destroyed during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. [12]

Wells completed [a]
YearOilGasDryFeet
[b] 1937001
194750023,818
19482400116,112
19494900246,773
1950130061,188
[c] 1951200189,985
19522102 [d] 98,555
19531700 [d] 73,100
[e] 1954120156,638

Operations

KOC produces three grades of crude oil: Kuwaiti Export Crude, light crude and heavy crude.

On October 9th, 2023, Kuwait's oil minister announced the country would prepare the infrastructure for the Durra gas field, in an attempt to boost fossil fuel production. The strategy aims to raise overall oil production capacity to 4 million barrels per day by 2035. [5] On May 6th, 2024, in an effort to diversify its energy strategy and enhance its renewable energy portfolio, Kuwait announced plans for a large-scale solar energy project. [23] The project is spearheaded by the Ministry of Electricity and Water in collaboration with the KOC. The two entities have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining the framework for a global operator model whereby a suitable entity will be selected via a meticulously prepared tender process to execute the project. As per the outlined agreement, the chosen company will procure the energy through a contractual agreement spanning 25 to 30 years. The ambitious initiative aims to generate 1 gigawatt of electricity using solar power.

See also

References

  1. "Slide Show: The World's Biggest Oil Companies". Forbes. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  2. "Kuwait Oil Sector". AP Consulting. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  3. "Kuwait Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis - Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal" (PDF). Europe Energy Information Administration.
  4. "Kuwait - Country Commercial Guide - Oil and Gas". U.S. International Trade Administration. 30 December 2023.
  5. 1 2 Hagagy, Ahmed (10 October 2023). "Kuwait seeks to boost oil production, pushes on with Durra gas field". Reuters .
  6. "Kuwait Oil Company Archive - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  7. "Kuwait - Concessions". The Oil Weekly. Vol. 121, no. 12. 20 May 1946. p. 261.
  8. Naqi, Mohammad; Alsalem, Ohood; Qabazard, Suad; Abdullah, Fowzia (2023), Abd el-aal, Abd el-aziz Khairy; Al-Awadhi, Jasem Mohammed; Al-Dousari, Ali (eds.), "Petroleum Geology of Kuwait", The Geology of Kuwait, Regional Geology Reviews, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 117–144, doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-16727-0_6 , ISBN   978-3-031-16727-0
  9. "OPEC-Kuwait facts and figures". OPEC.
  10. Syal, Richa (11 December 2021). "'Gushing oil and roaring fires': 30 years on Kuwait is still scarred by catastrophic pollution". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  11. "Kuwait Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis - Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal" (PDF). U.S. Energy Information Administration.
  12. Hagagy, Ahmed (18 October 2023). "Kuwait Oil Company signs $1.7 bln soil-rehab contracts". Reuters.
  13. "World Oil's 3rd Annual World Oil Atlas - Drilling Activity by Countries in 1946 and 1947". World Oil. July 1948. p. 39.
  14. "World Oil's 4th International Operations Issue - Drilling Activity in 1947 and 1948 by Countries". World Oil. 15 July 1949. p. 54.
  15. "World Oil's 5th International Operations Issue - Drilling Activity in 1948 and 1949 by Countries". World Oil. 02 July 1950. p. 50.{{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. "World Oil's 7th International Operations Issue - Drilling in Kuwait". World Oil. 15 July 1952. p. 206.
  17. "World Oil's 8th International Operations Issue - Drilling Activity in 1951 and 1952 by Countries". World Oil. 15 August 1953. p. 62.
  18. "World Oil's 9th International Operations Issue - Wells and Footage Drilled in 1952 and 1953, by Countries". World Oil. 15 August 1954. p. 79.
  19. "Kuwait..." World Oil. Vol. 141, no. 3. 15 August 1955. p. 310.
  20. "World Oil's 10th International Outlook Issue - World Drilling Activity". World Oil. 15 August 1955. p. 157.
  21. "Kuwait - History of Development". The Oil Weekly. Vol. 121, no. 12. 20 May 1946. p. 261.
  22. "Historical Resume of Oil Production From Fields of the Arabian Platform in Kuwait, Through 1980". The Petroleum Resources of the Middle East. Energy Information Administration. May 1983. p. 144.
  23. "Kuwait expands renewable energy ambitions: 1 gigawatt solar project underway". 8 May 2024.
  1. First well in Kuwait drilled at Bahrah and abandoned at ca. 8,000ft [21]
  2. 2 wildcats (10,395ft): the Magwa discovery well and one dry hole
  3. 1 2 Footage estimated
  4. 1 dry wildcat at Umm Gudair (20 miles west of Burgan) abandoned at 8,071ft. Same rig was moved 99 miles in 40 hours and started drilling wildcat Raudhatain No. 1 (57 miles NNW of Ahmadi) which was still drilling at depth of 7,363ft at year's end