LeadingRole

w w w . k n p c . c o m
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Evolution Of KNPC
Introduction:
Kuwait National Petroleum Company
Facts, Figures & History
Kuwait National Petroleum Company KNPC was established
in October 1960 as s joint venture between the government
and the private sector. Since its incorporation, the company
engaged in different activities of the oil industry. When it
was established in 1960 KNPC was the only and first national
company in a region where hydrocarbon resources were
managed and exploited by foreign companies. The owners
vision was a stimulating development and provided an
exemplary experience in handling national resources. In
its perspective KNPC came as a model for the indigenous
potentials, to undertake management and exploitation of
the oil resources which started to develop into a colossal
source of income capable of sustaining the society welfare
and financing its over all development. In 1975 the State
acquired full ownership of KNPC and compensated the
private shareholders for their stocks. KNPC’s operations
were highly integrated mainly relying upon its oil refinery
in Shuaiba and the marketing of petroleum products
from Al-Ahmadi Refinery, run at the time by Kuwait Oil
Company KOC- in both Local and international markets.
As a matter of fact KNPC at that time was maintaining an
efficient presence in Europe, the Far East and United States
of America to handle the marketing of petroleum products
from the Kuwait refineries. It even owned and operated
a number of oil tankers to deliver petroleum products to
customers all across the world.
In 1980 Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) was established
as the state owned asset and all other oil companies in
Kuwait, including KNPC, became KPC subsidiaries. One
year later after the establishment of KPC, the oil sector in
Kuwait was restructured on sectorial basis. KNPC became
responsible for the oil refining and gas liquefaction industry
in addition to the marketing of petroleum products in Kuwait
through a chain of filling stations, which reached its peak
between 2005/2007 with 119 operating filling stations.
In collaboration with KPC the company embarked on
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studies and plans to modernize refining industry in Kuwait with a multi billion dollar projects to revamp Mina Al-Ahmadi
and Mina Abdullah Refineries.
By the year 1984 Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery Modernization Project (RMP) was completed. It was then supplemented by
the Further Upgrading Project (FUP) in 1986.
The Two projects practically created a modern new refinery with optimal configuration and advanced technology, and
significantly increased the overall capacity of the plant. Two years later Mina Abdullah Refinery modernization project
(MAB) was completed turning the old refinery into a state of the art plant with a sizable capacity increase. MAA-RMP
and MAB-RMP led not only to capacity increase but also to products quality improvement.
On the domestic scene KNPC continued to build new filling stations in order to add more outlets for products marketing
and to respond to the growing demand for gasoline and other fuels. However, KPC and KNPC put into effect the trend
towards privatization and started in 2004 to transfer its Local Marketing assets, such as the lube oil plant and the petrol
stations, to private companies.
In 2004 the Lube Oil Blending Plant in Shuaiba was sold to a private firm and in early 2005 the privatization process of
119 filling stations commenced with transferring the ownership of 40 filling stations to a shareholding private company.
In early 2006 another batch of 40 filling stations was turned over to another shareholding company. The privatization
wheel is still rolling on until the last filling station owned by KNPC, is passed to the private sector.
In the meantime the company gave special attention to its human resource by implementing a policy of steady growth
of the national manpower and providing the company sites with highly qualified humanresources.
By the year 2009 the percentage of Kuwaitis in the total manpower was around 79.5% from the company labour force
which totaled 5235 employees.
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Local Marketing
In June 1961 petroleum products distribution outlets in
the local market were passed to KNPC, from Kuwait Oil
Company Ltd. Since then, KNPC embarked on increasing
its distribution facilities in order to meet growing local
demand for fuel in light of continuous urban expansion
and the rising standard of living in the country which is
accompanied by steady increase of vehicles population.
Through its local marketing arm, KNPC in steady growth built
new filling stations, supported by two main depots for the storage
of various petroleum products needed to meet the local market
requirements. One main fuel depot was built at Sabhan and is
being supplied with petroleum products from the company’s
refineries by means of pipelines. A second petroleum product
depot was built in early 2000 at Ahmadi township.
The number of filling stations through Kuwait increased
and reached 119 stations by 2007.
Naturally, the main products KNPC provided to the local
market are unleaded Super Premium gasoline and Premium
gasoline, gas oil, and kerosene. In addition to fuel supplies,
most stations provide other services such as oil changing,
and distilled water for car batteries.
When KNPC took over the management of the fuel stations
in 1961, there were only a dozen of petrol stations, most
of which were small and consisted of one or two islands.
Today there are 119 stations spread out in all parts of
Kuwait, including the highways leading to the country’s
Northern and Southern borders.
In the mid-1980’s KNPC introduced the self-services
system at the filling stations. Two thirds of the company
filling stations were self-service operated. To cope with
increased demand, these stations were equipped with
quick, responding and easily operated pumps. However
after the privatization of 80 filling stations ,this self service
system was discontinued and replaced by full service
system in all KNPC manned petrol stations.
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Automatic Car Wash Stations
KNPC introduced this services in its Local Marketing facilities in the late 1970’s, and now operates 4 automatic car wash
stations at Mansouria, Qurtuba, Bayan and Abu-Hlaifa. Two of them had been turned on to the private sector.
These facilities provide full cleaning services, from engine oil change to steam-washing of the car engines and a multistage cleaning process that uses modern technology. Indeed, the services provided at these stations are at the same level
in similar facilities in Europe and the USA.
Kuwait Oil
KNPC started marketing lube oils as early as February 1961 under the brand name of Kuwait Oil. In 1978 KNPC
inaugurated its own lube oil blending plant in Shuaiba. In the early stages, the plant produced car and heavy equipment
engine oil, A separate turbine oil production unit was then added in 1983 with an annual capacity of 5,000 metric tons.
The design capacity of the plant is 28,000 tons per year. The plant’s oil products continued to be marketed locally under
the brand name “Kuwait Oil” through the KNPC filling stations.
In November 2004 KNPC launched a privatization program of Local Marketing facilities. The property of the lube oil
blending plant was completely transferred to a local private company. Thus the privatization of lube oil business in
the company has been completed. This business which the company started 48 years ago came to a total end as the
company walked out of it.
Products Depots
The Local Marketing Department, is running two depots to supply fuel to the distribution network. The first one is in
Sabhan. It is supplied with petroleum products ie, gasolines (different grades), kerosene and diesel form Mina Al-Ahmadi
and Shuaiba refineries by pipeline.
The other depot is in Al-Ahmadi, was commissioned in 2000.
Privatization of Local Marketing facilities:
KNPC set up a special team to fulfill plans and draft procedures for the privatization process endorsed by KPC and KNPC.
The process began with Local Marketing facilitates.
Efforts focused on privatization of the lube oil business and the petrol stations. In November 2004 the contract for the
sale of the company Lube Oil Blending Plant in Shuaiba was signed with the winners of a public bid. This first step of
privatization was soon followed by the next measure, namely turning the ownership of the company filling stations to the
private sector. In May 2005 the first batch of filling stations was turned on to the “Oula” Company, a private shareholding
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company included 40 filling stations. Plans had also gotten underway to transfer two other groups, each consists of 40
stations to two newly established private companies before the end of the year 2006. The first batch of 40 filling stations
was acquired by “Al-Sour” company in early 2006. In this sense KNPC still owns 39 filling stations only.
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Oil Refining
Oil Refining and Gas Liquefaction: KNPC Core Business
Kuwait has 3 operating refineries since long :
Date of
Current
Major
Capacity
Expansion ‘000 Bbls/Day
Refinery
Date of
Establishment
Mina Al-Ahmadi
Refinery
1949
1984 – 1986
466
Mina Abdulla
Refinery
1958
1988
270
Shuaiba
Refinery
1968
1975
200
• After nationalization of the Oil Sector, initially
these 3 refineries operated as separate entities,
until the re-organization of the Oil Sector in 1980
with the creation of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
(KPC), a state-owned entity responsible for Kuwait’s
hydrocarbon interests throughout the world. KPC
operated through a series of specialized subsidiaries
in Kuwait and across the world. Kuwait National
Petroleum Company (KNPC) is the subsidiary
responsible for the entire domestic Crude Oil
Refining and Gas Processing activities along with
fuels retailing for the local market in Kuwait. The
Gas Plant has a total capacity of 1680 MMSCF per
Day (560 x 3 Trains) to process sweet associated
gas & condensate from the crude production. In
addition, KNPC also owns and operates Acid Gas
Processing Plants to sweeten the sour associated
gas prior to its feeding the Gas Plant.
• All 3 refineries underwent major modernization
and expansion as summarized later on and has
now a total capacity of around 936,000 barrels/
day. Having been located close to each other, the
modernization also addressed the operation of these
refineries as one integrated complex with extensive
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inter transfer facilities for feed and product streams movements for optimization. The refining complex in Kuwait
is the most advanced one in the Middle East with the state of the art processes and facilities. Shuaiba Refinery
after its modernization in mid 70s, was the first all hydrogen refinery in the world. While Mina Al-Ahmadi
Refinery is one of the largest capacity single refinery in the world, Mina Abdulla Refinery was modernized to
achieve deep conversion with zero percent fuel oil yield.
• KNPC Refining complex includes a total of 4 Hydrocrackers (for Vacuum Gas Oil feed as well as for Vacuum
Residue), Delayed Cokers (the only Cokers in the entire GCC), Fluid Catalytic Cracker and an array of Hydro
Desulfurization units for the distillates and residues.
• During the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and subsequent liberation war, severe damage to refinery facilities were
caused, this was at a time the modernization of the entire complex was just stabilized. From 1991 till mid 90s
the activities involved the restoration of the damage which was successfully accomplished.
• Subsequently, a major effort for augmenting Gasoline production facilities, involving expansion of FCCU capacity,
building new Alkylation, Acid Re-generation and MTBE units as well as a superfractionator for Propylene/Propane
separation was undertaken and completed.
• The refining complex essentially is an export oriented one, with about 80% of the products sold to international
markets. The product exports are handled by another subsidiary, KPC-International Marketing. For product
exports, KNPC have elaborate marine facilities (4 Oil Piers and a Sea Island) for the product export as well as dry
cargo berths for Coke and Sulfur exports.
KPC’s Long Term Strategic Plan for the Oil Sector :
• KPC had put in place in 2001, a long term Strategic Plan 2020 for the Oil industry and the industry development
plans are focused on achieving the strategic directions set in this Strategic Plan.
• Expansion and business growth of downstream domestic refining (KNPC activities) are being carried out fully
aligned to these strategic directions.
• There is also an elaborate Balanced Scorecard based Performance Management system across KPC and its
subsidiaries to monitor strategic progress and also to form the basis for providing objective incentives to the
employees.
Major collaborations with partners or joint ventures
KNPC is a National Company and as a subsidiary of KPC which is 100% owned by the Government of Kuwait. Our
collaboration includes building facilities to supply Ethane feedstock to Olefin Project (Equate-1, a joint company
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between PIC ( Petrochemical Industries Co), a subsidiary of KPC and Dow Chemicals.
KNPC is a joint venture partner (40%) with PIC in the Kuwait Aromatics Project (KARO) through which two onpurpose subsidiaries KPPC and TKSC for the production of PX &BZ and Styrene Monomer.
Overview of the range of products and services of the Company
KNPC refining complex produces products to meet the international market specifications.
The range of products include all traditional fuels :
 Fuel Gas for local Ministry of Electricity &Water )(MEW) for power generation
 Ethane as feed stock to Olefin Plants (Equate-1 and Equate-2), a JV Projects by KPC Subsidiary, PIC
(Petrochemical Industries Co.) and DOW Chemicals.
 LPG – Local market and exports
 Petrochemical Naphtha for export
 Gasolines – mainly for the domestic market
 Kero / Jet-A 1 for export and domestic market
 Diesels – various grades for export markets and local market requirements
 Fuel Oils – Local requirements for MEW, bunker needs and exports
 Specialty Products : Sulfur, Petroleum Coke, and Bitumen (mainly for local demands)
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Growth of Oil Refining Throughput in the Three Refineries and Fuel Oil Percentage
(000 P/D)
SHU
MAB
MAA
Fuel Oil %
Products Percentage in the Total Throughput (example of 2008/2009)
7.0٪
2.5٪
19.9٪
24.9٪
17.1٪
28.6٪
Naphtha/
Mogas/
Reformate
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Kerosene/
ATK
Gas oil /
Diesel
Fuel oil /Residue
Other Products
Consumption /
Loss
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Shuaiba Refinery
Shuaiba Refinery is located within the Shuaiba Industrial
Area boundaries some 50 km south of Kuwait City. The
refinery installations occupy an area of 1,332,000 square
meters. It is not directly connected with the sea coastline.
Construction of the refinery started in 1966. It was the first
refinery built by a national company in the region. In April
1968, the refinery was officially commissioned and the first
shipment was exported to Japan a month later. Its initial
refining capacity was 95,000 barrels per day, and in 1975
an expansion project was implemented and its refining
capacity rose to 200,000 bp/d.
Shuaiba Refinery process units were designed according to
the most advanced technology and techniques available
at that time. The refinery was capable of handling relatively
high sulfur heavy crude oils which necessitate special
processing technology. Shuaiba Refinery is considered
the world’s first all-Hydrogen refinery at that time with full
usage of Hydrogen gas manufactured from natural gas in
Process Units. The hydrogen gas plays a significant role
in removing/reducing sulfur and nitrogen impurities from
products as well as upgrading products quality to meet the
required international product specifications.
Shuaiba Refinery processes a wide range of products, i.e.
Naphtha as raw material for petrochemical industries, high
octane Gasoline for internal Combustion Engines, Aviation
Turbine Kerosene for airplanes, Diesel fuels and Fuel oil for
engines and furnaces.
Shuaiba refinery utilizes Hydro-cracking technology to
produce high quality light products converted from heavy
oils. When it was established in 1975 Shuaiba Refinery was
utilizing the most updated process technology in order to
meet the needs of product quality and maximize refinery
profitability.
Presently Shuaiba Refinery is operating at 200,000 BBLS/D
Crue oil processing on sustained basis.
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New plant facilities are being added to improve performance and comply with environmental requirements introduced
at various stages.
Shuaiba Refinery owes its manufacturing importance to the advanced technological design of its process units at the time
of construction. At that time, the refining of relatively heavy crude’s, particularly those that had a high sulphur content,
required complicated and sophisticated technologies. In addition to that advanced technology, Shuaiba Refinery as
an all-Hydrogen refinery was capable of removing sulphur and pollutants from petroleum products, thus raising the
specifications of those products to the world’s highest quality level.
Along with Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, Shuaiba Refinery provides the local market with its needs of petroleum products.
However, the majority of the refinery products are tailored for export to the world market.
Shuaiba Refinery is equipped with a large number of storage tanks for crude oil and refined products. In all, it has 72
tanks of various storage capacities.
1. Shuaiba Refinery: (Summary of the Main Features)
 Established in 1968
 Located in Shuaiba Industrial Area ≈ 50 KM from Kuwait City
 Occupies an Area of 1.233 sq. KM
 Besides the Crude processing capacity of 200 MBPD, has the following process units :
 Isocracker / Isomax Unit (Vac. Gas Oil Hydrocracker)
 Reformer (for Gasoline production)
 Distillate Hydrotreaters (for Naphtha, Kerosene & Gas Oil)
 (Along with a host of supporting units (Hydrogen Production, Sulfur Recovery, Utilities, etc)
Major Units at Shuaiba Refinery
Crude & Vacuum Unit (Unit 6)
Objective :
Crude and Vacuum Unit is the primary Crude Fractionation Unit which processes Kuwait Export Crude and
produces distillates such as unsterilized Naphtha, kerosene, light & heavy Diesel. Vacuum Gas Oil, Residue for
further processing in downstream Processing Units.
The Unit also includes a Foul Water Treating System for aall the Refinery foul water streams.
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Capacity:
The unit is designed to process 180000
BPSD of Kuwait Export Crude Oil. It,
however, normally operates at 200000
BPD.
Preheat Train & Preflash Section:
the Crude Oil received from TK-402
through booster is pumped by charge
pumps and preheated in parallel trains of
preheat Exchanger with hot intermediated
stream and products. A small quantity
of water and demulsifier chemical are
added before preheating. The hot crude
is mixed with wash water and fed to the
Desalters to reduce its salt content by
electric desalting process. A water phase
containing most of the salts is separated
out.
The desalted crude is dosed with NaOH
solution fix chlorides content, pumped
and further heated through two parallel
trains of Heat Exchangers and fed to
Preflash Tower, V-06-17. The preflash
Tower Overhead vapor are cooled
by exchanging heat with Crude Oil,
condensed in Fin FAN Coolers and
routed to Overheads Drum, V-06-18.
Part of liquid Naphtha from Overhead Drum is used as reflux. The Naphtha vapors and liquid from Accumulator are
sent to Naphtha fractionation Unit. The crude from the bottom of Preflash Tower is pumped through heat Exchangers
receiving heat from Vacuum Tower bottom product and subsequently to Atmospheric Heaters, H-06-01/03 operating in
parallel.
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H-Oil Unit
Unit 07
Objective:
the purpose of the units is to upgrade the Crude residual stocks (bottoms of Crude Unit Vacuum Distillation section by
catalytic hydrocarking process in the presence of hydrogen and obtain more desirable middle distillate products.
These middle distillate products are separated as side streams from the common Fractionation Tower Naphtha,
Kerosene and light Diesel.
The Heavy products from Reaction Section and Fractionators Tower are further separated in a ……..distillation
tower and withdrawn as Heavy Diesel, LVGO,HVGO, and vacuum Bot…… (Fuel Oil).
Capacity:
The H-Oil Unit was originally designed to Process 28800 BPDS fresh feed of 9.3 Deg. API Vacuum Bottom Feed
Stock (14400 BBLS/D to each train).
Since commissioning, the Unit operating mode has been extensively modified to suit the prevailing refinery operating
mode has been extensively modified to suit the prevailing refinery operating pattern.
The H-Oil reaction takes place in an ebullated bed of catalyst (NiMo Type). Pump P-07-02 maintains circulation to
keep the catalyst particles in continues ebullition. The catalyst level is monitored by a radioactive source (Ohmart
Detectors). Catalyst consumption is about 90 Tons/Month for both Trains A/B.
The Rector effluent flows as a vapor-liquid mixture into a Separator , V-07-02. The vapors a Hydrogen rich stream
containing lighter hydrocarbon reaction products. The liquid is composed essentially of heavier hydrocarbon
products, unconverted charge oil and appreciable amount of dissolved Hydrogen and light ends.
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Shuaiba Refinery Units
Process Units
No. Of Units
Design Capacity
- Crude Distillation Unit
1
180.000 bpd
- Hydrogen Manufacturing Units
3
222 MMSCF/D
- Catalytic Reforming Unit
1
15800 BP/D
- ISO Cracker Unit
1
44000 BP/D
- ISO Max Unit
1
23000 BP/D
- H- Oil Unit
1
50000 BP/D
- Naphtha Fractionation Unit
1
65000 BP/D
- Naphtha Unifining Unit
1
26000 BP/D
- Kerosene Unifining Unit
1
34200 BP/D
- Light Diesel Unifining Unit
1
12600 BP/D
- Heavy Diesel Unifining Unit
1
9320 BP/D
- Kerosene Merox Unit
1
15000 BP/D
- Sulphur Recovery Plant
2
38.4 MMSCF/D
- Acid Gas Removal Plant
1
48.5 MMSCF/O
- Ammonical Water Treating
2
140 & 340 GPM
- Flare Gas Recovery Unit
1
18.76 million SCF/D
- ISO Cracker Unit
1
44000 BP/D
- ISO Max Unit
1
23000 BP/D
- H-Oil Unit (Heavy Oil Recovery)
1
50 000 BP/D
- H-Oil Vacuum Distillation Unit
1
42700 BP/D
- Burgan Gas Treating Unit
48.7 MMSCF/D
- Amin Treating Unit
147.7 MMSCF/D
- Acid Gas Removal Plant
1
72.2 MMSCF/D
- Catalytic Reformer
1
15800 BP/D
- Hydrogen Production & Compressor Units
3
222 MMSCF/D
- Water Dematerializer Units
1
1450 US gp/m of treated water
- Boilers
4
300,000 ibs/hr
- Ammonical Water Stripping Units
1
140 GPM
- Ammonical Water concentrating Units
1
340 GPM
- Flare Gas Recovery Unit
1
18.5 MMSCF/D
Utilities
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Manpower
structure at
Shuaiba Refinery
Total manpower at Shuaiba Refinery is around 860
employees of whom there are 652 Kuwaitis at the rate of
75.9%. The structural configuration of the refinery depends
on three main departments each is headed by a corporate
manager and as follows:
Operations Department: which groups all staff involved in
operation activities, such as Refinery operators, shift leaders
and members, Central Control Rooms Staff etc.
Engineering and Maintenance Department: the main areas
in which this department staff function is Maintenance
both overall Maintenance (GRTA) daily maintenance of
units and equipment, including advanced workshops and
maintenance area.
Technical Service Department: the department activities,
generally concentrates on quality and quantity control of
the plant. That is why utilities such as the labs and the
computer application services are parts of this department.
However, among Technical Services Department main
activities is the engineering and operations planning in the
refinery.
In addition to the three departments the refinery also
comprises the Inspection and Corrosion Division, the Team
Leader of which directly reports to the Refinery DMD.
Other departments such as the Safety, Health & Environment
the General Services, Human Resources and Corporate
Communication have either divisions with extended
comprehensive responsibilities or only representation or
liaison offices.
This structural organization is a typical standard in the
company three refineries.
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Mina Abdullah
Refinery
Mina Abdullah Refinery (MAB) is located approximately 60
km to the South of Kuwait City, directly on the Arabian Gulf.
The total area covered by its installations is 7,935,000 m2.
The refinery was first built in 1958 during the rule of the
late Sheik Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, by the American
Independent Oil Company “AMINOIL”. It was at that time
a simple refinery that contained one crude oil distillation
unit with a capacity of approximately 30,000 bpd.
Following several expansion projects between 1962-1967
its refining capacity rose to approximately 145,000 bpd.
Mina Abdullah Refinery became a State property, following
a transition period during which the refinery was managed
by a national company under the name of “Wafra Oil
Company” ownership of the refinery was transferred to
KNPC in 1978.
- Mina Abdulla Refinery : (Summary Of main
Features)
 Established in 1958 and Expanded in 1988
 Located in southern Kuwait about ≈ 60 KM from
Kuwait City
 Occupies an Area of 7.9 sq. KM
 Besides the Crude processing capacity of 270
MBPD, has the following process units :
 Atmospheric Residue Desulfurization units
 Delayed Coking Units to upgrade vacuum residue
 Hydrocracker unit to upgrade Vac. Gas oil
 Distillate Hydrotreaters (for Naphtha, Kerosene &
Gas Oil)
 (Along with a host of supporting units (Hydrogen
Production, Sulfur Recovery, Utilities, etc)
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Mina Abdullah Refinery Modernization Project: (MAB-RMP)
In line with the strategy adopted in the early 1980’s to modernize Mina Al- Ahmedi and Mina Abdullah refineries, the
Refinery Modernization Project, (MAB-RMP) was launched in mid 1980s.
The plan to revamp Mina Abdullah Refinery and before it, Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery was part of a strategy to upgrade
the oil refining industry in the country. A study prepared by a specialized committee from KNPC and KPC, found that
Kuwait will need liquid fuel to feed its power generation plants and other installations, cater for the country’s demand
for petroleum products and create stable foreign markets for Kuwait exports of high grade petroleum products. To
provide such liquid fuel, Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries would have to be expanded. Furthermore,
the need to provide the local market with petroleum products with low pollutants that conform with the strict antipollution requirements of many countries with regard to imported petroleum products, necessitated introducing, new
technologies to enhance the ability of the Kuwaiti petroleum products to compete on the world market and to meet
stringent international environmental regulations.
To this end, the Ministry of Oil commissioned KNPC in early 1980 to undertake conducting a comprehensive study to
modernize these two refineries and to select the optimum system for achieving such modernization. When the study
was completed in 1981 work began for the two refineries Modernization Project. Mina Abdullah Refinery Modernization
Project consisted of three parts. The first was to revamp the existing units and utilities at the Refinery and increase their
efficiency and capacity. The second was to construct new units and support facilities that use modern technology in
order to produce high quality petroleum products and minimize volume of fuel oil in the ultimate yield. The third was
to develop export facilities including the construction of a man-made island (the Sea Island , MAB) to be used as an
exporting point for the refinery products and to increase the efficiency of the North and South piers at Mina Al-Ahmadi
Refinery. Mina Abdullah Refinery Modernization Project was completed in late 1988 and officially inaugurated in
February 1989. When it was completed, the refining capacity had been increased to more than 230,000 bpd. Besides
the crude throughput capacity augmentation, RMP-MAB also envisaged new dedicated product dispatch facilities and
took into account integration with the then existing MAB refinery and also with MAA and SHU refineries.
After Kuwait liberation, the product shipping and transfer facilities, damaged during the Iraqi Invasion, were rebuilt
Furthermore, the refinery has approved a revamp project to remove the bottle-necks in the refinery utility system. This
effort led to achieving significant increase of the plant refining capacity which is currently running at around 270,000.
Main Units
1- Crude Oil Distillation Unit (U-11)
The new crude distillation unit at the refinery has a design capacity of 190.000 bpd. With the existing other (CDU)
unit of a total capacity of 80,000 bpd, the refinery now has two crude distillation units with a total capacity of
270,000 bpd. Like all other crude distillation units at the refineries, crude from the Kuwaiti oil fields is distilled
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in a distillation tower under atmospheric conditions in order to obtain preliminary petroleum products such as
petroleum gases, naphtha, kerosene and diesel, while the preliminary column bottom residues are sent to other
units for further treatment under different temperature and pressure.
Process Description
These production units upgrade the specifications of the primary petroleum products from the distillation column
in order to conform with international specifications.
The old crude distillation unit has been upgraded to a production capacity of 80,000 bpd, following certain
important improvements to its performance in order to bring it more in line with the specifications of the new
distillation unit.
2- The Delayed Coker Units:
The Delayed Coker in Mina Abdullah Refinery is the unique process unit of the RMP project since it is the first such
unit to be constructed in the Gulf area.
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There are two identical trains with a total capacity of 76,000 BPSD. (38,000 BPD each) The design of the unit is
based on the full thermal cracking of the residum from the vacum rerun unit, to produce more profitable product
like Naphtha, Kerosene, Diesel and Gas Oil with a final residue of green coke. The coke product forms porous
solid after cooling in special drums, which is then removed by using a cutting tool equipped with high velocity
water jets.
The objective of the unit is to convert the bottom of the barrel residue to higher value products: as well as processing
the entire refinery slop oil. Delayed coking is a thermal cracking process which upgrades the heavy residues into
valuable distillate products.
Cracking in the process heaters and sending the residue to coke drums where the cracking process is completed by
providing adequate residence time. The vapors from the coke drums are sent to the fractionators to be fractionated
into gas and liquid product streams, while coke product is removed from the coke drum after predetermined
changeovers and sent to coke handling facilities. Products from the unit are.
- Light Naphtha
- Heavy Coker Naphtha
- Kerosene
- Diesel
- Gas Oil
- Green Coke
3- ARDs (Atmospheric Residue Desulphurization Units)
The unit is designed to process 65,900 BPSD of high sulfur at bottoms (HSFO) in tow trains with one common
fractionators. One train can be operated while the other is down for catalyst replacement the removal of Nitrogen
and metal compounds, the primary object unit is to reduce the sulfur content of atmospheric residue to 0.5% done
in the presence of hydrogen over a fixed catalyst bed reactor.
A project has been implemented to revamp the two Atmospheric Residue Desulphurization units at Mina Abdullah
refinery by using On Stream Catalyst Replacement (OCR) technology to increase the capacity of each train from
33,000 BPD to 42,000 BPD. This will result into a higher cycle length for the fixed bed reactor to 15 months
instead of 11 months. Light distillates yield will also be improved by 5%. Profit increase generated from the project
is estimated at KD 15.8 million per year.
28
4- Sulfur Recovery Unit (U-23)
The main objective of the sulfur block is to achieve sustained compliance with environmental guidelines. The
Sulfur Recovery Unit is designed to recover elemental sulfur to an overall efficiency of 99.9% from the amine
regenerator acid gas, sour water stripper overhead gas and the recycle gas from the new Tail Gas Treating Unit
(TGTU). The recovered molten sulfur is degassed and sent to flaking facilities located in MAA, while the tail gas
will be sent to the TGTU for further processing. The unit consists of three identical trains, each with a design sulfur
intake of about 270 MT/SD. Product sulfur is 99.5wt% purity. A project was commissioned 2004 to revamp the
unit capacity from 270 MT/SD to 400 MT/SD utilizing the Oxygen Enrichment Technology.
5- Central Control System
The Central Control Room (CCR) is a prime example of the modern technology applied in the Mina Abdullah
Refinery Modernization Project, with a futuristic perspective.
The selected system uses the state of the art technology in the field. Main features of the system include reliance
on microprocessors, digital equipment and use of a distributed control system together with a computer to apply
advanced control to refinery operations.
The Central Control Room consists of a system of CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) video consoles, grouped in a set of
usually four CRTs. Each group is called a workstation. The CCR consists of ten workstations including one spare
intended for training .
Each workstation consists of three CRTs as associated with digital distributed control system (DCS). By the use of DCS,
process units can be remotely controlled and operated as far as 5,000 feet. Process indications along with a variety of
informative displays required for control and monitoring of refinery operations are available on the CRT screens.
6- Transport and Storage of Coke
The coke produced at the delayed coker unit is carried by conveyor belts to the boundaries of Mina Abdullah
Refinery where it is then carried in special coke carts to the boundaries of Shuaiba Refinery for storage in special
warehouses with a capacity of 70,000 tons of coke. Eventually, the coke is carried to Shuaiba Port on conveyor
belts for export.
In order to avoid air pollution by dust emitted from the transport and storage of coke, a appropriate precautions
are taken against such potential pollution by washing the coke several times prior to storage, for a sufficient period
after it has been cut at the coke depots, before being transported to Shuaiba Port is kept under diffused pressure at
night in order to prevent the leakage of coke dust outside the warehouses.
29
7- The Sea Island
The Mina Abdullah Sea Island is located approximately 16,000 ft offshore (5KM). It consists of two loading berths
for exporting liquid petroleum products and importing fuel oils in case of any emergency situation. The seaward
berth is capable of receiving tankers ranging from 25 to 276 MDWT and landward berth is capable of receiving
tankers ranging from 25 to 140 MDWT. Each berth is provided with six loading arms, four for white oil products
and two for bunker/fuel oil products. There are six submarine pipelines and each one is dedicated for the transfer
of a particular product. The products transported through these lines are Naphtha, Kerosene, European Gas Oil
(EGO), High Speed Diesel (HSD), Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) and High Sulfur Fuel Oil (HSFO). All submarine
pipelines are 24-inch except MDO which is 12-inch. The shipping facilities are designed for loading a cargo of
80,000 MT of white oil products in 36 hours and black oil products in 40 hours.
30
The Main Units at Mina Abdullah Refinery
Number of
Units
Total Capacity
Crude Distillation Units
2
270,000 bpd
RCD UNIBON Unit
1
35,000 bpd
Atmospheric Residue Desulphurization Units ARDS
2
84,000 bpd
Vacuum Re-Run units
2
150,000 bpd
Hydro-Cracker unit
1
42,500 bpd
Kerosene Hydro-Treating unit
1
40,000 bpd
Diesel Hydro-treating unit
1
40,000 bpd
Naphtha Hydro-Treating unit
1
7,500 bpd
Dalayed Coker
2
90,000 bpd
Mirox unit
2
3,200 bpd
Hydrogen Plant
3
144 million cu ft/d
Old Hydrogen plant unit
1
26 million cu. ft/d
Hydrogen Recovery unit
1
26 million cu. ft/d
Sulphur Recovery units
3
270 MT/D
Tail Gas Treating unit
2
510 MT/day
31
32
Mina Al-Ahmadi
Refinery
Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery (MAA) was built in 1949 as a simple
refinery with a refining capacity not exceeding 25,000 bpd to
supply the local market with its needs of gasoline, kerosene and
diesel. The refinery is located 45 km to the South of Kuwait City
on the Arabian Gulf. It covers a total area of 10,534,000 m2.
Following the establishment of KPC and the restructuring of the
oil sector, ownership of the refinery was passed from Kuwait
Oil Company (KOC) to Kuwait National Petroleum Company
(KNPC) which became responsible for the oil refining and gas
liquefaction operations in Kuwait. In the early 1980’s as part
of an overall plan to upgrade the refining industry and expand
the refineries , work started on two ambitious projects to
modernize Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery, namely the MAA-Refinery
Modernization Project (MAA-RMP) (which was completed in
1984) and the Further Upgrading Project MAA-FUP (which
was commissioned in 1986). Within the framework of these
two projects, 29 new units were built at this refinery which
has now become one of the world’s modern refineries in
terms of both refining capacity, which exceeds 460,000 bpd
and the advanced technology it employs.
Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery Modernization Project (RMP) was
basically intended to provide the local and world markets
with low sulphur -content petroleum products, and to reduce
dependence on gas as fuel, providing cheaper and more stable
fuel to the country’s power generation plants.
The Further Upgrading Project (FUP) was based on more
comprehensive view of the future of petroleum product
markets in order to maximize profits and ensure a stable
market for the three refineries output. The project further
sought to increase the share of light and medium products of
the distillation process and minimize the share of fuel oil in
the end output, resulting in a higher return from the crude oil
refining processes. The refinery now contains 29 new units,
in addition to the old units, including the crude distillation
units, the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit, the Atmospheric
Residue Desulphurization Units, the Vacuum Rerun Unit and
the Sulphur Recovery unit.
33
Mina Al-Ahmadi History
- 1949: 25,000-30,000 BPD Refinery commissioned under KOC.
- 1958/63: Refinery expansion to 190,000 PBD & 250,000 BPD respectively.
- 1978: Gas liquefaction plant was commissioned.
- 1981: Rhenformer Units commissioned.
- 1984: Transfer of MAA Refinery to KNPC.
- 1984: Refinery modernization project (RMP) untis commissioned progressively.
- 1985: Further upgrading project (FUP) units commissioning started.
- 1987: FCC was commissioned
- 1997: FCC unit capacity increased to 40,000 BPD (revamp), as part of MAFR.
- PRU, MTBE, ALKAYLATION, and SAR units commissioning started.
- 2000: A mishap due to a leak in gas condensate line, led to a destruction of several facilities. Immediate
rehabilitation took place to repair and replace the damaged facilities. New ATK MEROX unit was commissioned.
- 2002: New G.O.D is commissioned in April, 2002.
34
MAA Main Units
Crude Oil Distillation Unit:
The total capacity of the two new crude oil distillation units is 290,000
bpd. They receive crude feed from the Burgan, Ratawi and other oil
fields. In these units, the raw material is separated in the distillation tower
into a large number of products such as gas, naphtha, kerosene, light
gas oil, heavy gas oil and residues. The distillates of these two units are
sent to other conversion units in order to improve their specifications to
the required standard. These two units were built as part of the refinery
modernization project (MAA-RMP). They supplement the production
of the existing crude distillation unit to raise the capacity of these three
CDU units to around 466,000 bpd.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units (FCC)
The unit was commissioned in 1986 as part of the “Refinery Further Upgrading Project (FUP)” with a capacity of
30,000 bpd.
In 1997, the unit was revamped and its capacity was raised to 40,000 bpd as part of MAFP (which stands for
MTBE Alkylation, and FCC revamp Project). Since that time the unit continues to play a major role as a heart
conversion unit among the three refineries , where it processes various feed to produce high quality products and
feedstock for downstream units for further processing.
The unit objective is to produce maximum Liquefied Petroleum Gases (LPG) and Gasoline (Conversation level 79 of
LV% to gasoline ). The “Olefin” rich LPG stream (Double Bond Hydrocarbons) is further processed in downstream
units to produce Propylene, MTBE and Alkylate.
FCC unit consists of the following sections
1- Reactor/ Regenerator
2- Main Fractionators
3- Gas Concentration Unit
4- Power Recovery
35
FEED 40,000BPD (VGO.75vol%, CGO. 26vol%) FCC PRODUCTS VIELDS
OFF GAS
4.35
wt%
LPG
20.40
wt%
LIGHT GASOLINE
32.98
wt%
HEAVY GASOLINE
13.37
wt%
DISTILLATE
15.94
wt%
LCO
0.64
wt%
HCO
7.70
wt%
COKE
4.62
wt%
TOTAL
100.0
wt%
Main Units at Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery
Unit
36
No. of Units
Actual Capacity
Crude Distillation Units
3
466,000 bpd
EOCENE Topping Unit
1
24,000 bpd
Bitumen Production Unit (Asphalt)
1
11,000 bpd
Atmospheric Residue Desulphurization Unit (ARDS)
4
132,000 bpd
Naphtha Reforming Units
2
35,000 bpd
Kerosene Desulphurization Units
1
20,000 bpd
Gas oil Desulphurization Units
1
61,600 bpd
Vacuum Distillation Unit
1
85,000 bpd
Hydro Cracking Units (HCR)
1
40,000 bpd
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit
1
40,000 bpd
Hydrogen Recovery Unit
1
56,000 MMSCFD
Hydrogen production Units
4
198 MMSCFD
Sulphur Recovery Unit
4
1,334 MTPD
Merox Unit
1
20,000 BPSD
CCR Naphtha Reformers
2
Gas Oil Desulphurization Unit
1
61,600 BPSD
New Gas Oil Desulphurization Unit
1
70,000 BPSD
Tail Gas Treatment Unit (TGT)
3
727 MTPD
Sour Water Treating Unit (SWT)
2
1053 GPM
CCR Naphtha Reformers
After the June 2000 mishap in Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery, immediate
action was taken to rehabilitate the damaged facilities. The company
decided to build two identical reformate production units in place of
the old destroyed units with state-of-art technology.
The new “Naphtha Complex” includes two identical process trains.
Each process train consists of a Naphtha Hydrotreater, Naphtha Splitter
and CCR (Continuous Catalyst Regeneration) reformers for gasoline
production. A dedicated Nitrogen Generation Unit is also being built
to cater to N2 requirement for both units.
The objective of the complex is to produce reformat with RON of
MON of 90.06 and Benzene content of 1.0 vol% max. The complex
was commissioned in October 2003.
Process Description
Naphtha Hydrotreater:
Hydrotreating of Naphtha is essential to remove catalyst poisons such as Sulphur, Nitrogen which is catalytically
hydrotreated in a fixed bed reactor employing a select catalyst and hydrogen rich stream to decompose organic
sulphur, oxygen and nitrogen compounds contained in hydrocarbon fractions. In addition, hydrotreating remove
organometallic compounds and saturates olefin compounds.
The Naphtha hydrotreating process makes a major contribution in the operations and economy of platforming.
Sulphur Recovery Units:
Within phases 1 and 2 of Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery Modernization Project, four units were constructed to recover
the sulphur obtained as a byproduct of certain refinery processes. The total capacity of these units is 1,334 metric
tons, of sulphur per day.
37
Sulphur Storage and Handling Facility:
A special compound was built for the storage and breaking into flakes the Sulphur produced by the three refineries.
Here this by product is prepared for export by means of conveyer belts that reach the vessels directly. Originally,
sulphur is liquid , then it turns into a solid cohesive mass when it cools. It is flaked into small pieces to facilitate
handling. Precautions are taken to prevent air pollution with sulphur dust when it is broken or carried.
The sulphur breaking and handling compound at MAA Refinery receives the sulphur produced at Mina Abdulla and Shuaiba refineries
from which the material is pumped through pipelines that are heated continuously to ensure the smooth flow of the liquid sulphr.
38
Central Control System:
In each of the two stages of the MAA Refinery Modernization Project, a state- of- the - art central control room
was established in addition to several local control systems, or sub-control rooms. At Mina Al-Ahmadi, the central
control system relies on state-of- the art microprocessor technologies. Each central control room houses several
operation stations equipped with monitors linked to a microprocessor that monitors the refinery units. The computer
performs an extensive series of operations such as the numerous variable data in the production processes (heat,
pressure, etc). The computer displays drawings and plans of the production units with different variable data and
the operation status of every unit. The computer also gives alarm messages when any of these values exceed the
limits for safe operation. Furthermore, the computer performs complicated mathematical operations required for
the control and operation of the units, thus ensuring added security and safety.
The CCR also helps in the conservation of energy and accurately controls the specifications of the petroleum products.
The New Oil Pier at Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery
The new south pier in MAA was inaugurated in February 2004 as part of the (Construction and Restoration of MAA
Two oil piers) the refinery has two oil piers to export crude oil, LPG and petroleum products.
SOUTH LOADING PIER (connected with the Refinery)
NORTH LOADING PIER (10KM north of the Refinery)
The project basically envisaged construction of a new pier to replace the South Pier and restoration of the North
Pier so that its life will be extended for 15 year.
The New South Pier is the largest and the most advanced marine facility in the Middle East with the state of art
technology. The construction of the pier took seven years, four for studies and three for construction. it has six
berths for the export of Crude oil, LPG and petroleum products.
39
The New Pier’s Advanced System and Technology - Main Features
Number of Mooring Points
Tankers deadweight
Estimated design life
Total of mooring points Total number of Platforms Anchor’s depth
5
160,000 tons
30 years
4300 m
5
17m
Petroleum products being exported:
- Light and Heavy Fuel Oil
- Diesel, Kerosene and Naphtha
- LPG
- Crude Oil
1- Tankers advanced and satellite connected berth monitoring system that ensures safe and accurate anchorage
2- Sudden-Interruption suction system for petroleum products during loading operation.
40
LPG Plant at Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery
Gas Liquefaction Plant (LPG) at Mina Al-Ahmadi went on stream in 1978. It consists of three trains the capacity of
each is 560,MMSCF designed for the extraction of propane, butane and natural gasoline. The plant also consists of
storage tanks divided into two tank farms. The greater portion of the LPG plant production is now being exported
to the world market from the south pier of Mina Al-Ahmadi which is connected to the plant by a pipeline network.
The average daily rate of feedstock to the plant stands at around 1680 MMSCF per day.
The LPG plant receives natural gas from Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) gathering centres (26) in located at the
various oil fields in Kuwait and liquid gas from KNPC refineries. Propane and butane are exported through the
refinery south pier.
The mixture of gases is separated in the plant’s units into the following products:
Product
Capacity ‘000 Bbls/day
Liquid Propane (LPG)
100
Liquid Butane (LPG)
55
Natural Gasoline (KNG)
40
In addition to lean gas and residues.
41
The Gas plant was built to process all associated gas/ condensates collected from Kuwait Oil Company (KOC),
another KPC company which is responsible for oil / gas exploration & production. It consists of three identical trains
with a total processing capacity of 1.68 billion SCF/ day (including 80,000 BPD of hydrocarbon condensate). While
the LPG plant essentially produces liquefied propane, liquefied butane which are stored in refrigerated tanks and
Kuwait Natural Gasoline (KNG) It also produces high-pressure (HP) and low pressure (LP) lean gases.
It should be noted that the LPG plant plays a significant role as the primary energy supplier to power stations, KNPC
refineries & PIC. It is also the only petrochemical feed stock supplier of ethane gas to Equate for the manufacture
of poly- ethylene.
In order to meet the new unleaded gasoline specification as well as to upgrade cracked LPG from the FCC unit, new
facilities were added downstream of the FCC unit. These units together called the MAFP block and commissioned
in 1997, including facilities to supply propylene product to PIC for the manufacture of polypropylene and to
produce Alkylate and MTBE, which are both mogas components.
Acid Gas Removel project (AGRP) the AGRP was implemented in the year 2000 in order to treat associated sour
gas from the oil fields.
In order to meet latest diesel qualities, a new Gas Oil Desulphurization Unit was added to the refinery configuration
in the year 2002.
Further, two new Naphtha Continuous Catalytic Reforming (CCR) units are built and commissioned in the year 2003.
MAA Refinery also houses the control of sulfur solidification and granulation facilities, which serves the three KNPC refineries.
MAA & LPG plant employees about 1550 Staff.
42
Gas Plant: (Summary of Main Features)
• Located at Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery.
• Consists of 3 Trains of identical capacity each.
• Total capacity is 1680 MMSCF per Day (560 x 3 Trains). Processes sweet associated gas & condensate from
the crude production.
• The process involves separation of liquid products (Propane, Butane and KNG) from the feed & supply lean
gas to the end users (mainly Power Plants) & Petrochemicals (Ethane).
• Bilding a 4th Gas train is underway and a 5th. train is being planned.
Example of liquid products
percentage in the LPG plants total
production.
2008/2009
43
44
Health, Safety &
Environment
Safety to KNPC is a core value that enjoys exceptional
importance. The company worked so hard in the past
few years to promote Health, Safety & Environment best
practices and started setting records in the three fields.
With regard to safety, KNPC since the year 2000 developed
a new safety strategy, by introducing a new management
system based on identifying risks and hazards, attacking them,
pursuit of systematic auditing that ensures best practices in
Health, Safety & Environment performance. KNPC strongly
believes that Health, Safety & Environment are core values,
that must not be compromised in the name of profits.
Safety and Health of those who work for the company are
particularly important as they are the company main assets.
The company introduced as early as the year 2000, the Safety,
Health and Environment Management System “SHEMS” that
was designed to have in place an implementable system that
identifies risks, remove them through a sustainable system
of practices that keep up safety standards as advanced as
possible and involves an auditing mechanism in which
even the company higher management plays a leading role.
Continual development is synonymous to safety in KNPC
Refineries and other sites of work.
Development of SHEMS was a turning point in the
company Health, Safety & Environment strategy. Through
its 14 elements it incorporates role for everyone in HSE
policy, safety work practices and standards, training and
competency. Emergency preparedness, incident reporting
and investigation, risk identification and management of
change, safety based behavior, roles, responsibilities and
assignments for everyone, in addition to commitment to
occupational health and Environment protection. People at
all levels in KNPC are responsible for implementing the
company safety policy. They will demonstrate correct HSE
behavior, clearly define rules and responsibilities provide the
needed resources and will establish a monitoring system.
Along with SHEMS the company Health, Safety &
45
Environment Department continues to promote safety awareness throughout the company with a view to promoting a
safety culture inside the organisation, and thereby enhancing safety behavior in the community.
The company safety achievements were outstanding with a combined employees-contractor record. As an example the
Project Department in the company achieved in the fiscal year 2006/2007 a record of 4.2 million man-hours without
any accident leading to lost working case (LWC).
The three refineries achieved in the same period millions of man-hours. This is an indicator to the significant improvement
in the company safety standards.
The company three refineries, the Project Department and the Local Marketing Department also were selected since 2002
to win the prestigious ROSPA award (Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents) a British organization that monitors the
Health, Safety & Environment performance of other companies worldwide. Other prizes received include the National
Safety Award of the British Safety Council for a number of consecutive years.
Consolidated Recommendations
‫صورة غالف الكتاب‬
Following the mishaps at Shuaiba and Mina Al-Ahmadi Refineries in June 2000, an ad hoc committee was set up
by the company to implement, audit and certify 58 recommendations intended to be a safety road map for every
refinery. The Consolidated Recommendation Execution Committee (CREC) completed its work in the year 2006 as
the recommendations were executed in detail, certified and audited. Safety business in the company received a
new momentum with this consolidated.
46
Safety Awareness & Culture
Lecture on Environment at an elementary school
HSE Department in collaboration with Corporate Communications Department, and other departments in the
company conducts on regular basis awareness campaigns to consolidate a common culture by which safety
practices and measures are exercised in a consistent behavioral routine.
The great attention given to safety practices is justified by the fact that the refining industry undertaken by KNPC comes
with some risks both for people and assets. The challenge is to identify and abort those risks (HSE Training).
Training Philosophy in HSE Department
50000
ExamplesKofNPTraining
at HS&E Centre
C S H& EIntensity
T raining
43173
39042
40000
33999
33903
30000
20000
10000
2862
3346
3371
2 0 0 4 -0 5
2 0 0 5 -0 6
5215
0
2 0 0 3 -0 4
Sessions
Attendance
2 0 0 6 -0 7
Training programs are developed and delivered in line with SHEMS Element # 4 “Training & Competency” and
on the basis of training need assessment listed in the Mandatory HSE Training matrix. The courses include Safety,
Occupational Health, Environment topics and also functional safety courses related to respective discipline.
HSE Training is important to KNPC personnel working for or on behalf of KNPC i.e. Contractor & Sub Contractor’s
47
workmen with prime objective to learn, refresh and update HSE knowledge and skills and continually improve on
their HSE performance at work. The training on various topics for new recruits, experienced employees and also
key persons of the service contractors is carried out through classroom training conducted by HSE Training Center,
Safety & Fire Divisions of three refineries, and Environment Division on the job training on safety related topics.
Safety talk and Safety Movies are also regularly conducted at operators shelters and control rooms.
It is mandatory for all KNPC and Secondment employees to attend HSE induction course prior to joining the
department or before the commencement of an assigned job. The course includes Safety fundamentals, Occupational
Health & Hygiene and Environment Management System (ISO 14001). New recruits (UDs) attend a comprehensive
course organized by Career Development Department which includes coverage on HSE topics.
Environment
Kuwait National Petroleum Company is committed to the protection of the Environment. This commitment is being
translated into hard work and determination to combat pollution at its very sources, especially air and sea pollution.
Concrete measures were taken in this perspective to improve the standards of Environment protection including a
number of costly projects designed mainly to serve this purpose.
48
Kuwait National Petroleum Company has implemented Environment Management System conforming to ISO
14001:2004 standards. The key aspect of ISO 14001 system is to achieve continual improvement by addressing non
conformances and by setting new targets to achieve. Hence audit becomes one of the essential tools to achieve this.
Accordingly, external surveillance audits were carried out by M/S LRQA in July 2006 and January 2007 to cover
all the sites of KNPC. Auditor expressed satisfaction on the progress made towards implementation of Environment
Management System (EMS) and the recommendations of audit is being implemented. In addition to this, internal
(EMS) audit was also carried out for all the sites during the year.
The certification of ISO -14001 was another recognition of KNPC commitment to the local and world environment.
Environment Protection
KNPC is committed to the protection of Environment. In recognition of KNPC’s effort to maintain clean environment
within its neighborhood, it was awarded On December 2008 the prize of the first position by the Council of Arab
Environment Ministers for Clean Product Projects. This prize is awarded to the best scientific researches and studies
or the best clean production practices, which resulted in significant impacts that helped in conserving both natural
resources and energy , besides cutting down pollution and helping sustainable development.
KNPC also won in 2007 the 2nd place of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Award for Environment Management organized
under auspices of the Arab Organization for Administrative Development – affiliate to the Arab League.
To enhance the company commitment to Environment protection a number of projects are currently under
implantation such as:
1- Reduction in Sulphur Dioxide Emissions:
Tail Gas Treatment Unit (TGTU) project at SHU Refinery was commissioned on 9th October 2006 with the commissioning
of this project there is 80% reduction in SO2 emission from incinerator of Shuaiba Refinery. SO2 emissions from
incinerator stack of Shuaiba Refinery are now within limit set by Kuwait Environment Public Authority.
2- Odor Management System (OMS):
As an Environmental objective for 2006-07, an Odor Management System (OMS) has been developed. A comprehensive report
on OMS has been prepared and released for implementation at all three KNPC refineries and Local Marketing facilities.
This report describes an Odor Management System (OMS) for KNPC to effectively control and eliminate odor.
It elaborates on the Program design and execution, achievements, shortcomings and transition requirements.
Accordingly, site committee has been formed at individual sites to co-ordinate implantation of OMS report.
The report also proposes a 5 year implementation plan for Odor Management System at KNPC. The three major
components of the OMS are leak Detection and Repair, Complaint Recording and Tracking System and Odor
stressors identification and control measures.
49
3- Air Emission:
Quality of ambient air in any industrial unit has utmost significance, keeping this in mind, KNPC is maintaining 2
mobile ambient air quality monitoring stations which continuously monitor ambient air quality at three refineries.
On need basis these mobile stations can be shifted outside also to monitor ambient air quality.
In addition to this, periodic stack monitoring of stacks are carried out to ensure that stack emission from these
are within the Environment Public Athority limits. Various on line analyses and software based Environment
Information Management System (EIMS) module helps in verification of stack monitoring results.
4- Industrial Waste Water Effluent:
Industrial waste water is routed to effluent treatment until in all the three refineries before being discharged into sea.
Daily regular monitoring of effluent water sample is done by KNPC as well as (Napesco) lab to ensure that various
parameters of effluent water is within K-EPA limits.
50
5- Solid Waste Management:
In order to further improve the awareness about Solid Waste Management programme at KNPC sites and enforce
compliance of solid waste handling, transportation and disposal, awareness courses are regullarly conducted at
the three Refineries for the employees. separate courses on Solid Waste Manifest Authorization are conducted on
regular basis for selected employees and employees. This was done to ensure that steps involved in solid waste
i.e. storage, segregation and disposal to identified destination is carried out as per procedure. During April- March
2006-7 a total 279 employees passed this test and are now authorized to sign waste transportation manifest.
In order to reduce solid waste generation, sludge treatment and handling unit at MAB refinery is being operated
which processes oily sludge and recovers valuable oil from the sludge which is again sent for reprocessing. The left
over solid residue from this plant is only 10% of total volume of sludge processed. Thereby solid waste generation
is reduced by 90% from this plant. During the period April- March 2006-07 5350 m3 of oil was recovered by
processing 12945 m3 of oily sludge in this plant.
6- Revamp of Effluent Treatment Facility:
This common project for all three Refineries will significantly reduce the pollutant in effluent discharge. It is set for
completion in August 2009.
7- Oil Sludge Unit:
This unit was built at Mina Abdulla Refinery to treat oil sludge from the three refineries. Disposal of this polluting
source, as residues of oil and products contaminate the soil and the air became a mission of paramount importance
to the company .Within a relatively short time after its commissioning in 2005 ,the result was zero sludge in the
three plants.
51
52
Manpower
Development at
KNPC
Since its inception 47 years ago, KNPC witnessed substantial
development with regards to the number of employees, the
work system and methods applied at its various departments.
The number of employees during the first years of operation
did not exceed a few hundred employees. However, this
number rose to more than 7,500 in the year 1990 before the
Iraqi invasion of the State of Kuwait. The percentage of Kuwait
manpower grew steadily thanks to the policy systematically
implemented by the management, of attracting many young
Kuwaitis to occupy technical and administrative positions in
the company structure. The increased percentage of Kuwaitis
was also the result of career development, training and
encouragement of young Kuwaitis to join this continuously
growing industry.
With regard to the development of work methods and system,
KNPC is indeed a leading organization which has always been
striving to acquire the latest technologies, not only in the
field of refining operations and associated facilities, but also in
connection with administrative and technical activity.
The total workforce in the company is currently 5200 employees
of whom there are 4100 Kuwaitis at the rate of 79.5%.
Investment in manpower Development:
KNPC has always believed that the Kuwaiti individual is
the most important national assets. For this reason, the
investment in the growth and development of Kuwaiti
manpower, is the best and most feasible investment on
the long run. Since the early days of commissioning the
company’s refinery at Shuaiba , specifically in the year 1968,
the company established a specialized training centre. The
first group of trainees that year who graduated from the
centre included a number of young Kuwaitis. In the late
1970’s and early 1980’s, the training and development
function gained momentum following the transfer of Mina
Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries to KNPC.
Furthermore, the modernization of Mina Al-Ahmadi and
Mina Abdullah refineries in the 1980’s posed a major
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challenge with regard to provision of well trained national manpower to manage and operate these projects which,
practically, involved the construction of two modern refineries. KNPC achieved a considerable increase in the number of
national manpower, who starting of the year 1992 began to account for more than 70% of the company total manpower.
This is a clear indication of the contribution made by the training and development programs to increasing the number
of skilled Kuwaiti manpower in the company as well as the fruit of Kuwaitization policy.
Monpower Growth in KNPC and Kuwaiti Employees Percentage
The company has always given due attention to the various aspects of training including the training of personnel of the
Support Services Departments Ahmadi, Shuaiba and Mina Abdullah refineries .Training at KNPC is an on-going process
that starts during the first month in which the employee joins the company, with an orientation program during which
the employee becomes familiar with the work of the company and the relationship between his department and other
departments and sections. On job trainting program, is another important tool to upgrade skills of the newly recruited
engineers. This program assigns a numbers of empluyees to one or more instructures who will assist them to master
the equipment under their responsibility. Training is often provided in collaboration with various local and international
bodies and organizations. It also includes training programs outside Kuwait.
Furthermore KNPC sponsors refinery operators specialization at the Technological Studies College of the Public Authority
for Applied Education and Training (PAAET). Students receive monthly salaries during study time while graduates who
meet certain requirements are guaranteed jobs at the company refineries immediately after their graduation.
Thousand s of KNPC employees are recruited in different types of training course or programs every year. Many of these
course s are usually held outside Kuwaiti by professional institutes or agencies. An example 458 employees received
training in 308 courses outside Kuwait in 2006 while almost a similar number received training outside Kuwait in 2007
and 2008.
Training and Career Development has always been a core objective for KNPC, it goes unabated and continue over the
year involving all types of employees starting from top management downward to new recruits.
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Social
Responsibility
The concept of social responsibility is rather a new doctrine.
It goes back to the late 70’s but it gained momentum in the
UN Environment and Development Earth Summit which
convened in Rio de Janiro, Brazil in 1992.
The conference called on developed nations to live up to
their responsibilities in promoting economies of the under
developed countries and furthermore, to adopt a policy
for sustained contribution to the development. Within this
perspective a demanding cause has emerged for which the
social responsibility of private companies and governmental
organizations asserted itself as a prime objective.
Sustainability and Social Responsibility became a
mandatory commitment not only to the stakeholders, but
to the community at large.
KNPC is no exception but rather a player in the frontline.
The concept of social responsibility has motivated big
companies to give priority to their involvement in social
development and environmental protection.
In fact the evaluation of private or governmental company
is no more measured by its profitability only, but also by its
interaction with the tempo of economic, technological and
administrative development Locally and worldwide.
One of the leading features of this development is the
social responsibility of the private companies because they
cannot claim to be isolated islands within their societies.
The company every year organizes more than one extensive
campaign to donate blood to the Blood Bank,The Bank
officials commended KNPC employees as the top donors
among the country institutions. KNPC is also actively
joins relief aid the victims of natural disasters in many
parts of the world through the authorized agency,Kuwait
Red Crescent Society .
KNPC systematically engaged in social, cultural and
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sport activities in the country. Environment protection including the
manufacturing of Environment Friendly Fuels, is also a prime goal for
KNPC in a concerted effort with the rest of Kuwait Oil Companies.
Improvement of environmental condition is an integral part of the
Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR exercise is strategic
goal for KNPC, which believes that it is not evaluated by its ability
to maximize returns to owners only, but also by its contribution to
the society welfare, involvement in educational, cultural, social and
sport activities and especially by its contribution to domestic and
international environment protection. In this sense Corporate Social
Responsibility is now a major factor in the organization’s image for
the public and for its stakeholders as well.
KNPC believes that delivering its social message can be achieved through
a variety of channels earmarked to interact and strengthen cooperation
with the community nonprofit organizations and interest group especially
those that actively function in the social service field and care about
people of special needs. Plans have already been drawn, and policy for
social sponsorship patterns have been worked out to render this social
commitment to be more systematic and more sustainable in both financial
and administrative terms. The examples that demonstrate the Company
concern for contribution to the social cause are numerous indeed and
reflect the level of awareness of this obligation on the part of both the
management and the employees. KNPC awareness of its corporate social
responsibility is the driving force behind its effective participation in a
wide range of cultural, educational, sport and environmental activities.
Its partners in this area range from some individual athletes and players
to the various universities, Kuwait Red Crescent Society, Kuwait Centre
for Autism, the Blind and Deaf Societies etc……
The company joins the Blood Bank campaigns to raise their stock
of blood groups. In fact KNPC organizes every year more than one
campaign for voluntary blood donation. The Blood Bank officials
recognized and commended KNPC employees as the top donors of
blood among the Kuwaiti institutions.
In other cases the Company made major contributions to the national
efforts to provide relief aids to various countries hit by natural disasters
either by funds raised by the employees or from its own budget ,or,
more frequently, from both sources.
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