Kuwait prepares to tender gas pipeline project

8 August 2024

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State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is planning to issue tender documents for a project to install gas and condensate pipelines.

A list of 30 prequalified companies has been published by the Higher Purchase Committee at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

In its statement, the Higher Purchase Committee said that the tender would be issued after a period of more than 30 days.

Companies that have not been listed as prequalified have been told that they can qualify to bid for the contract if they contact the board of directors of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

Activity increase

Kuwait is currently seeing a surge in oil project activity.

The total value of active oil projects in Kuwait has more than doubled since the start of this year, according to data gathered by the regional project-tracking service MEED Projects.

The total value of active oil projects, either in pre-execution phases or under execution, rose from $7bn at the beginning of 2024 to more than $14.9bn at the end of July.

The surge in activity comes after the change in leadership that took place in the country in December last year, when Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah became emir, taking over from his half-brother, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

Sheikh Mishal was formally sworn in on 20 December 2023.

The sudden increase in oil project activity comes after four years of declines.

The value of active oil projects in Kuwait peaked at $65.4bn on 26 February 2019 before declining to a low of $5.1bn on 11 April 2023.

While there has been a significant uptick in oil project activity this year, there has not been a similar surge in project activity within Kuwait’s gas and chemicals sectors.

Since the start of the year, the total value of active gas projects declined by 10% from $7.7bn to $7bn at the end of July.

Kuwait’s active chemical projects saw a slight increase in total value, rising from $10.6bn at the start of the year to $11.2bn at the end of July.

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Wil Crisp
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