Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is responsible
for gas and crude oil exploration and production. KOC also works in the neutral zone between Saudia Arabia and Kuwait with Texaco –onshore and Arabian Oil Company – offshore. Also, KPC explores and
drills abroad through Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC). It operates in Asia, North Africa, various Arab States and Australia.
Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC)
deals with crude refining and gas liquefaction. The three refineries at Mina Ahmadi, Mina Abdullah and Shuaiba have a current capacity of 900,000 barrels per day which will soon increase
Oil Refinery Shuaiba
to over 1 million barrels per day. KNPC also manages
the country’s 90 gas stations, in addition to distributing gas and fuel to ports, desalination plants and power stations. Arrangements are in hand to privatize the gas stations once the facilities for the sale of
unleaded gas have been put in place.
Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) offices are
located in London. KPI refines Kuwaiti crude in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and in Italy where KPI has a 50% share of the Milazzo refinery jointly owned with AGIP. KPI also distributes 250,000 barrels per day worth
of oil products throughout Europe through its Q8 gas stations and International Diesel Service. Plans are in hand to expand refining capacity and establish refineries in other European countries and in India and
Pakistan where letters of intent have already been signed.
The Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) produces
fertilizers and urea, ammonia, salt, chlorine, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, hypochloric sodium and compressed hydrogen. In its desire to diversify its range of
oil products downstream, PIC entered into
a joint-venture agreement in 1997 with Union Carbide to establish a new petrochemical complex called Equate. The complex is the largest and most modern in the world for producing ethylene glycol (350,000
tonnes) and polyethylene (450,000 tonnes). The world-wide demand for polyethylene is growing at about 15% per annum. PIC with its high level of technology offers a whole range of polyolefines used in the
plastic industry which it distributes and sells world-wide through its own marketing subsidiary. PIC is also involved through various joint-ventures in China through Sino-Arab Chemical Fertilizers and in
Bahrain through the Gulf
Loading Oil Tanker
Petrochemical Industries Company. At the current time,
PIC is seeking partners for another petrochemical complex that involves the production of benzene, xylene and paraxylene using naptha as a feedstock.
Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) with a fleet of 31
tankers of about 3.5 million tons dwt. ensures the distribution of crude oil, gas and by-products to countries throughout the world. KOTC has recently placed orders for two new tankers which will have double hulls
that will minimize leakage and pollution accidents and conform to the new international standards for curtailing marine pollution. The Kuwait Aviation Refueling Company provides jet-fuel for aircraft in Kuwait. In
order to advance industrial development and keep abreast of recent technology, KPC will be opening in 1999 a College of Petroleum in Ahmadi in a joint venture with the renowned Kuwait Institute for Scientific
Research.
