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Kuwait awards remediation contract

8 September 2025

 

Kuwaiti contractor Khalid Ali Al-Kharafi & Brothers Company has been awarded a remediation contract at Kuwait’s Wafra oil field and the contract has been signed, according to industry sources.

The client on the project is Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC).

Under the terms of the contract, Kharafi will process oil sludge at the oil field, reducing contamination levels.

The contract was awarded directly without an open tender due to Kharafi’s performance on other remediation projects in Kuwait, sources said.

Under the terms of the contract, payment will be based on the volumes of polluted soil that are treated.

The minimum value of the contract has been set at $10m over a time period of one year.

Under the scope of the project, there are around 700,000 cubic metres of sludge available to be processed.

Sources close to the project understand that Kharafi could process between 100,000 and 200,000 cubic metres of sludge during the time period.

If Kharafi processes 100,000 cubic metres, it will receive a payment of $100m, sources said. This sum will be doubled if it processes 200,000 cubic metres.

Environmental projects

Over recent years, Kharafi has gained significant experience working on remediation projects.

The company is executing two major oil clean-up contracts with state-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

The contracts are part of the multibillion-dollar project known as the Kuwait Environmental Remediation Programme (Kerp).

Khalid Ali Al-Kharafi & Brothers is executing its Kerp projects in partnership with Lamor Corporation, a Finland-based company specialising in oil spill response, waste management and water treatment.

KOC awarded the two companies the two major oil remediation contracts in June 2021. Each package involves remediating 2.6 million cubic metres of soil

One of the packages, the North Kuwait Excavation, Transportation and Remediation Project-2A (NKETR-2A), has a value of $194m.

The second contract, worth $197m, is known as the South Kuwait Excavation, Transportation and Remediation Project-2A (SKETR-2A).

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.

The new contract focused on the Wafra field is not part of Kerp.

The Wafra field is located in the Partitioned Zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Both countries equally share the natural resources contained in this region.

The area is operated jointly by KGOC, which represents Kuwait, and Saudi Arabian Chevron, which represents Saudi Arabia.

In 2024, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) chief executive Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah reiterated that his company plans to increase its oil production capacity to 4 million barrels a day by 2035.

About 90% of Kuwait’s oil production comes from KOC, which also plans to achieve a daily gas production capacity of 1.5 trillion cubic feet by 2040

Kuwait is estimated to have 100 billion barrels of oil reserves.

Under KPC’s 2040 strategy, it plans to invest $410bn, which will come from its cash flow, debt and joint ventures with other businesses.

Out of the $410bn, KPC and its subsidiaries intend to invest $110bn to accomplish the group’s energy transition targets.

MEED’s September 2025 report on Kuwait includes:

> GOVERNMENT: Kuwait looks to capitalise on consolidation of power
> ECONOMY: Kuwait aims for investment to revive economy
> BANKING: Change is coming for Kuwait’s banks
> OIL & GAS: Kuwaiti oil activity rising after parliament suspension
> POWER & WATER: Signs of project progress for Kuwait's power and water sector
> CONSTRUCTION: Momentum builds in Kuwait construction

To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
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Wil Crisp

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