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Oil Sector SuccessfulExtreme Emergency Plan

Kuwaiti Fire-FightingTeam Extinguish Iraqi OilFires

Tribute to Late SheikhaSheikha Al Saad

EQUATE AchieveMillions of AccidentFree Working Hours

Improving HSE Performance: KPC Priority

Issue No.24 , April - July 2003

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Oil Sector’s EffectiveExtreme EmergencyPlan to offset dangers ofWar to Liberate Iraq.

Remembering the lateSheikha Sheikha Al- Saad:the oil sector pays tributeto the quintessentialleader.

Kuwaiti fire-fightingteam succeed inputting out blazingoil wells in SouthernIraq.

Nader SultanReveals oil sector’splans to improveHSE performance.

KPC Mission

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation is a state owned and commercially oriented cor-poration. It is one of the leading oil and gas producing companies in the world andits activities are focused on petroleum exploration, refining, and marketing petro-chemicals and transportation.

Our mission is to manage and develop these integrated activities worldwide inthe most effective manner so as to ensure the optimum exploitation of Kuwait’s hy-drocarbon resources to achieve the maximum financial return to our shareholders,the Government of the State of Kuwait and develop the capabilities of the nationalmanpower.

Editor- in- Chief

Talal Al KhalidAl SabahExecutive AssistantManaging DirectorCorporate Projects,Governmentand ParliamentRelations & Media

In This Issue

I s s u e N o . 2 4 , A p r i l - J u l y 2 0 0 3

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Ahmadi Refineryactivates AcidDegassing Plant

Mina AbdullahRefinery succeedsin reducing sulfur indiesel products

Oil Sector’s Oil SpillContingency Plan

EQUATE maintainsits accident freerecord

Interview with theManager of KOCLondon Office on itsmission and role

Managing Editor

Fadel JermanMedia Manager

Editorial Team

Media Department Staff

Copy -editing

Besma Al QassarTrident EWC(English WritingConsultants L.L.P.)

The KPC World Editorial Team expresses itsthanks and appreciation to all who contributededitorial and information material andphotographs to produce this issue of KPC world.

P.O.Box: 26565 Safat - 13126 Kuwait

Tel.: (965) 2400960 - Fax: (965) 2407872Website: www.kpc.com.kw

E-mail: media@kpc.com.kw

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The State of Kuwait is currently going through a decisive phase that is critical to its future security and stability.For the past thirteen years, Kuwait has lived through anticipation and caution due to the threatening presence of anuntrustworthy regime that had aimed at violating the sovereignty and liberty of the country. The Iraqi people them-selves were not excluded from the tyranny of the regime that had brutally oppressed them and mal-exploited theircountry’s wealth for thirty years.

God has bestowed on the people of Kuwait the blessing of a honourable and dignified life. In awareness of thisblessing, the people of Kuwait have expressed their gratitude by constantly extended their generous hands to othersaround the world, even the Iraqi people with whom Kuwaitis are geographically, historically and ancestrally linked.

During the verge of the turbulent political circumstances, the Corporation’s management met with employees andexplained the precautionary measures drawn by the emergency plan. The precautionary measures aimed to protect thesafety of employees first, and ensure the continuity of operations in KPC and its subsidiaries.

With the announcement of a state of emergency in the country last month, the oil sector proceeded with theExtreme Emergency Plan for the protection of all oil sector operations and began operations at the Crisis Manage-ment Centre in which the Extreme Emergency Committee met daily. It is worth mentioning that the early preparationsmade by the Extreme Emergency Committee has proven its effectiveness since production, refining and export opera-tions were maintained.

Out of concern for the protection of Iraq’s oil wealth, Kuwait’s political leadership was eager to participate insaving the burning oil wells that have been set on fire by the toppled Iraqi regime. The Corporation participateddirectly with the contribution of the Kuwaiti Fire-Fighting Team in travelling to southern Iraq to the Rumaila oilfieldto put out the fires and save the environment from what could be saved.

We feel honoured by the conduct of the Kuwaiti fire fighting team and its success in extinguishing the first burningoil well within a short time. We were not surprised by the crime that the Iraqi regime carried out against its ownpeople. The ill deed was another proof of the selfishness of the regime and its lack of concern for preserving thepeople’s property and safeguarding their future. It is this same regime that set fire to 727 oil wells in Kuwait before itwas driven out in 1991, causing the greatest environmental catastrophe the region had witnessed in its history.

Also, praise is extended to those that had worked under the state of emergency for their sincere efforts in maintain-ing order to ensure that oil operations went on and that this vital resource continued to flow.The Corporation’s priorityhas been the safety of employees. The management ordered the distribution of protective masks to all employees, aswell as instruction leaflets on security and safety measures. The Health and Safety Department has also sought toincrease employees’ awareness and ensure their safety through various awareness programmes.

As for the Health, safety and environmental issues, the Corporation has drawn up plans to develop the system. Inthis issue, KPC World deals with the environmental projects of the subsidiary oil companies. In conclusion, wedevote our hearts to Kuwait and pray for its security and safety.

KPC World Editorial

Talal Al-Khalid Al-SabahExecutive Assistant Managing Director,

Corporate Projects, Government andParliament Relations and Media

Editor-in-Chief

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Leaving Nothing to Chance

Kuwait’s Oil Sector Applies ExtremeEmergency Plan

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By Sheikha Al-Tourah

Kuwait’s oil sector was always aware thatit stood the chance of being one of the primemilitary targets of the tyrannical Iraqi regime.During the Iraqi invasion, the sector sufferedfrom the deliberate sabotage of its infrastruc-ture, with the objective of paralyzing Kuwait’sability to carry out key operations.

Indeed, history seemed to be repeating it-self. As Kuwait prepared to face the same en-emy, the sector quickly drew up an ExtremeEmergency Plan; the main aims of which areto protect the lives of employees , to ensure thesafety and security of installations, and to con-front any major accidents that would threatenthe course of oil production, refining and ex-port operations.

An Extreme Emergency Committee wasformed, headed by Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, Minister of Information, Acting Minis-ter of Oil and Chairman of KPC’s Board of

Directors who supervised the drawing up andimplementation of the plan.

For several months prior to the outbreakof military action to liberate Iraq, the Commit-tee was busy in devising a precise plan thatcovered all activities within the oil sector. Itincluded five likely scenarios and measures tooffset any crisis. Many scenarios were drawnup whilst keeping the Iraqi invasion in mind.In 1991, the management of Kuwait’s oil sec-tor was automatically transferred to KPC’s Lon-don office. The memory of the Iraqi invasionwas still fresh in the minds of all Kuwaitis, and

lessons learned from that bitter experience wereapplied.

Nader Sultan, Deputy Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer, said that preplanning wasessential to deal with every contingencypromptly and rationally. While designing theplan, he emphasised that, “the critical factor wasto be prepared in advance. We had to think ofthe possible scenarios so that when they actu-ally happen we do not get confused in the heatof the action. In a real life emergency crisis youhave emotions, which you do not have normallyin business, you have fear and concern for yourfamily and for yourself. There is also panic,which confuses decision-making. The more youare able to anticipate potential alternatives, themore the decision-making will be calmer.”

Sheikh Talal Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, Execu-tive Assistant Managing Director, CorporateProjects, Government & Parliament Relationsand Media, and the official spokesperson forthe oil sector, explained that the plan includedall the operational, technical and organizationalmeasures that KPC, its subsidiaries and theMinistry of Oil must undertake when a state ofextreme emergency occurs in the oil sector.Sheikh Talal underlined the plan’s clear objec-tives: “Our priority was to protect employees,properties and the environment. In addition, wehad to meet all industrial safety and securityrequirements, and ensure co-ordination be-tween the Corporation, its operating companies,the Ministry of Oil and various agencies. Thiswas essential if the means, capabilities and re-sources necessary to maintain control were tobe provided. Close cooperation would be fun-damental in guaranteeing a continuous andregular supply of basic public services (e.g. gascylinders and gasoline) should an emergencyoccur. It would also be vital in preserving thestrategic stock of petroleum products, as wellas fulfilling the Corporation’s commitments toits clients in world oil markets. In the event ofan attack, the Committee will restore work tothe oil sector by rebuilding facilities and in-stallations that may have been damaged dur-

Sheikh AhmedAl Fahadheads CWCmeeting

Seham Razzouqi, MD Finance, Administration &International Relations following all updates

Nader Sultan supervising oil sector operations

CWC Equipped with Stateof the Art Communication Facilities

The CWC resembled a war control room, as it was equipped with state ofthe art communication facilities to constantly and promptly updatemembers of all latest updates. It also included maps, and videoconferencing communication facility in the main meeting room. Since theplan left nothing to chance, satellite phones were also provided to maintaincommunication in the event of a power or communication failure.

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ing the state of emergency.”

Sheikh Talal said that a state of extremeemergency “involved specific measures. Itstipulated that the Chairmen of the Boards ofDirectors and Managing Directors should acti-vate their own emergency plans, and carry outoperations specific for such a crisis. The planalso provided all the essential resources and ca-pabilities to control the state of emergency asquickly as possible, and continue to provide thebasic services that the oil sector undertakes.”

The official spokesperson went on to ex-plain that the facilities and installations cov-ered by the plan include “producing wells, gath-ering centres, gas boosting stations, oil tankcomplexes , the central mixing complex, ma-rine operations, export facilities and subsidiaryelectric power stations.” The Extreme Emer-gency Committee defined a state of extremeemergency, as being a result of natural disas-ters, sabotage actions or military operations thatcause an effect on oil sector operations or thebasic services represented by the supply of pe-troleum products to consumers, storage facili-ties or export operations to world oil markets.”

Raising Awareness

These measures were clearly underlined ina comprehensive awareness campaign, whichthe sector launched to train employees on theEmergency Plan. The campaign also includedthe preparation of safe shelters, holding openmeetings with employees and distributing gasmasks for protection against chemical attack.As a precautionary measure to protect the livesof employees, the Extreme Emergency Com-mittee asked all members of the workforce notlisted on the extreme emergency list to remainat home upon the outbreak of war.

An emergency centre was established

called the Crisis Management Centre at thePetrochemical Industries Company’s BubyanClub. It was set up to manage all oil sector op-erations and to monitor all new developments.The centre was fully equipped with state of theart audio-visual equipment and linked to theother operations rooms within the sector viavideo conferencing.

Roles and Duties

Sheikh Talal explained that each commit-tee member had certain roles and duties to per-form. “Each one of them was expected to fol-low up the measures and developments whichwere adopted to contain any accident that mayhave occurred, in co-ordination with the CrisisManagement Centre’s operational team. Like-wise, each team member was authorized toannounce the end of the state of emergency inhis company in co-ordination with the opera-tional team, providing that all accidents occur-ring during the state of emergency had beencontained. Failing that Nader Sultan, theDeputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officerwould announce the cessation of the emergencyand a return to normality.” With regard to therole of the Undersecretary of the Ministry ofOil, Sheikh Talal said that “when the situationdemanded, he should take part in Crisis Man-agement Centre meetings and follow up theimplementation of the decisions adopted. Heshould also co-ordinate with the agencies sup-porting the Extreme Emergency Plan. Each ofthe Executive Assistant Managing Directors inKPC should carry out the duties assigned tothem by the Managing Director during a stateof emergency. Everyone whose name is in-cluded in the emergency list must be present atthe Crisis Management Centre during the timethat a state of emergency is declared.”

Extreme Emergency Plan

Put to the Test ... Comes out with Flying Colours

At dawn on Thursday 20 March, the coa-lition began its military operations to liberateIraq, and the oil sector declared a state of ex-treme emergency. The months of careful plan-ning were about to be tested. As the plan wasapplied, the Crisis Management Centre (CWCthe centre of all operations) became a beehiveof activity. The committee held its first emer-gency meeting that morning in an atmosphereof anticipation. The committee members con-tacted the sector’s operation rooms in order tobecome acquainted with the latest develop-ments and to ensure that all operations wererunning smoothly.

In an atmosphere reminiscent of Opera-tion Desert Storm, a strong feeling of patrio-tism, enthusiasm and high morale prevailed.Nader Sultan has experience in directing oilsector operations during a severe crisis as hehad done this during the Iraqi invasion. Whenasked about aspects of similarity and commonfactors, the Deputy Chairman and CEO repliedthat there was a difference between the twoincidents. “In the first occasion, for those ofus outside Kuwait, we were absent and the warwas happening somewhere else and we werein a sense frustrated observers. On this occa-sion, we were part of the theatre of action. Onecommon theme was that you had to find a wayto focus on the key things you had to do andavoid being obsessed with monitoring the lat-est news developments on television. A sec-ond common feature was creating a sense ofclose teamwork. I note that crises alwaysbrings out the team spirit .The other commonexperience was the need to keep the media wellinformed about the operations and making surethat the reporting was accurate.”

The oil sector’s Extreme EmergencyPlan attracted the interest of international andlocal media. “In conformity with its trans-parent principle in dealing with the media,”

commented Sheikh Talal “we endeavouredto provide the media with daily updatesto ensure accuracy under the special cir-cumstances Kuwait went through.”

CWC Centre of Media Attention

Sheikh Talal, Dr. Mohammad Al Ramadam &Abdulatif Al Houti during a press conference.

Star News Channel interviews Nader Sultan

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The Successof the

Emergency Plans

By: Kamal Al- Khars

In conformity with the media policy fol-lowed by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation,which is based on transparency in dealingwith news, and according to the instructionsof Sheikh Talal Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, Execu-tive Assistant Managing Director, CorporateProjects, Government & Parliament Rela-tions and Media and official spokesman forthe oil sector, the media team belonging tothe Crisis Management Centre conducted apress tour of a number of emergency opera-tion rooms in KPC’s subsidiary oil compa-nies, in order to explain how the various oiloperations are conducted. This was part ofthe emergency plan that the Corporation haddrawn to deal with emergency situations.

Oil officials brought attention to the factthat oil production and export operations hadcontinued in spite of the instability that thecountry had experienced during the pastmonth. Emergency teams were formed toprepare plans that dealt with developments.Hamza Bakhsh, Manager of the AhmadiRefinery, said that the emergency operationrooms, which Kuwait National PetroleumCompany (KNPC) had established, suc-ceeded in maintaining the production andexport of refined products in the three refin-eries. He explained that these measures werereflected positively in the morale of employ-ees in the refineries to a great extent.

On his part, Mr. Adil Al-Sharhan, Ex-ecutive Assistant Managing Director for Ad-ministrative Affairs in KNPC, had said thatoperations in the refineries proceeded nor-mally with the application of the emergency

There was a tangible sense of witnessinghistory in the making. The employees in theEmergency Committee embodied great sincer-ity and team spirit. One local newspaper wentas far as describing the work as “a well orches-trated symphony”.

The First Alarm Siren

The first alarm siren blared on the morn-ing of the first day of war, announcing immi-nent danger. The oil sector had foreseen thisdanger and ensured all necessary safety mea-sures. Upper Management’s concern for em-ployees’ safety was reflected in Nader Sultanleading the awareness campaign. Despite all thethorough training a predictable sense of panicensued. The CEO explained. “I cannot over-emphasize the need to have continuous train-ing and drills. Despite that it was interesting tonote that when we had the first real emergencysiren, of a possible missile attack some peoplestill panicked, but this is human nature.”

The Centre was constantly in session,working 24 hours a day. Sheikh Talal said thatthe Emergency Committee dealt with an eventimmediately, and in all sectors. The officialspokesperson also added that, “the oil sectorfollows a professional organizational processto deal with any event, as well as being eagerto look for alternative ways to deal with anyemergency.”

The first crucial test was the missile attackaimed at the oil installations in the Shuaiba areaon the first day of military operations. Themembers of the committee immediately heldan emergency meeting to ensure the continua-tion of operations. “Thank God, the aborted

attack did not result in any losses, but the Emer-gency Committee decided as a precautionarymeasure to reduce the work in the operatingunits of some refineries to safeguard the livesof the employees.”

As military operations continued, the Ex-treme Emergency Committee carried out itsimportant functions. The preparations of the oilsector attracted the attention of local and inter-national media, who were eager to cover thesector’s emergency plan. The Media Emer-gency Room in the centre was contacted con-tinuously and interviews were conducted as themedia acquainted themselves with the latestdevelopments in the oil sector. The CMC hadstrong media coverage regarding all develop-ments in the sector on a daily basis. This was“in conformity with the principle of opennessthat we follow in dealing with the media dur-ing these exceptional circumstances.”

After a week of military operations, and ofcareful scrutiny of the security situation, theExtreme Emergency Committee decided to re-sume work as normal in the oil sector and togradually return all facilities’ operations to theirfull capacity.

“So as not to forget” the Deputy Chairmanand CEO concluded, “we will create a recordof this emergency for future management.”

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Waleed

Al Hashash

Manager

London

Office

Indeed, it wasnot easy to witnessthe situation in ourregion, and espe-cially Kuwait from adistance. What made

it more difficult was that we all have our larger fam-ily back home, and reading all the news, analysisand the precautionary measures that Kuwait under-took was definitely not comforting when you areoutside the country.

Under those special circumstances, the regionaloffices played a vital role in supporting KPC’s ef-forts to carry out the usual tasks that the Interna-tional Marketing was committed to do. Accordinglywe cancelled all our travelling plans to meet the newarrangement directed by the Upper Management.But we were willing to enact any new tasks allo-cated to us, as we strongly believe that ultimatelywe are serving the country whether we are in Ku-wait or outside Kuwait.

Akil

Al Siddiq

Manager

India Office

As per direc-tives from the Up-per Managementwe had to cancelall official businesstrips, courses, and

leaves. Our presence at the Mumbai office, being akey market for Kuwait, was very important to sup-port the head office. My colleague Mohammad AlQallaf and I used to regularly call our clients to re-assure them of our determination to fulfil all con-tractual agreements and of the precautionary mea-sures KPC had adopted to safeguard its operations.We also provided them with all information and up-dates they needed.

We had a mixed reaction from them our clientsfrom extreme confidence in the political situation toa bit of scepticism. However, while discussing thesituation with our clients, we always urged them oflooking at the brighter side of the event and trustingin the effectiveness of KPC’s emergency plan.

plan. He stressed that the provision of typesof fuel in the local market at normal rateswas maintained, and export operations ofrefined oil products continued in a regularmanner. Adil Al-Sharhan added that the mo-rale of the employees in the three refinerieswas high as a result of their sincere devotionand awareness towards preserving the stra-tegic wealth of the country, especially underthe security measures.

In Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), initialpreparations to face this crisis were adoptedwell in advance, according to the KOC Emer-gency Committee member Mr. Khalid Al-Khamis. The emergency plan was developedin September 2002, when working teamswere formed to ensure that production op-erations in the oilfields continued. The emer-gency plan was applied and succeeded inadapting to the state of emergency, and hada clear effect in maintaining production andexport plans.

With regard to this matter, Mr. Ayidh Al-Hajeri, Manager of the Operations Group inwestern Kuwait and member of the ExtremeEmergency Committee in KOC, said thatearly preparation and the measures that theemergency committee in KOC carried outhave demonstrated their effectiveness indealing with the emergency situation, bymaintaining production rates in the Kuwaitioilfields.

In Petrochemical Industries Company,Mr. Anwar Al-Salama, the Executive Assis-tant Managing Director for Manufacturingand head of the emergency plan in the Com-pany, stated that export operations of petro-chemical products continued according toschedules.

Al-Salama had also said that the exportrates for urea proceeded normally, as theCompany had relied on its large stock ofproducts produced earlier, in order to meetthe requirements of its international clients.He mentioned that the Company had also atshipped urea to clients in America and Asia.

KPC Regional OfficeActive Role inReinforcing Clients Trust in KPC Measures

Sheikh

Nawaf

Al Sabah

Manager

D.C Office

In addition tothe usual tasks weperform at theWashington office,we have been veryactive in represent-

ing KPC, the oil sector and Kuwait in general invarious industry conferences, settings and media.Recently, I have given briefings to government agen-cies and business groups such as a group of WhartonBusiness School alumni in Washington. We havealso explained Kuwait’s production policy to the USgovernment and the Congress to show how Kuwaithas acted responsibly by increasing its productionto offset possible production declines resulting fromlosses in Venezuelan production and, in the event ofa war, possible losses in Iraqi production. We havealso given numerous background briefings to oil in-dustry journalists heading to Kuwait to cover oil sec-tor-related stories.

Meshal

Abushaibah

KPC

Houston

Office

One commentI like to recollect isthat of Kuwait’sAmbassador for TheUnited States OfAmerica Sheikh.

Salim Al-Sabah, where he told me once that “ the realambassadors are those who live inside America amongworking people.” We at KPC Houston Office endeav-our to project all of our true and noble Arabic and Is-lamic virtues and none of our shortcomings to our cli-ents.

KPCWH cancelled all personal leaves to ensurethat we have 100% manpower during any time. We hadclear instructions to cooperate with local and Federalauthorities for any security issues and alarm concernedbodies about any suspicious items, or behaviours. I haveasked the staff to exhibit utter vigilance and cautionduring these tense times without affecting our image orperformance.

I am specially very proud of KPCWH staff perfor-mance and poise especially during the past year whichentailed many changes, challenges, and obstacles thatranged from adjusting to new immigration laws tospending more hours on the phone with customers andcounter parts in Kuwait to ensure a superb performanceand offer ease and comfort to our counterparts and cus-tomers. Indeed “Kuwait is Always Victorious by theGrace of God”. May God protect our country and theAmir.

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In recent history, 727 oil wells wereset ablaze by the forces of the now toppledIraqi regime just when they had realisedthat their defeat was inevitable. Kuwait’soil wells became infernos, an image thatcannot be effaced from memory, even ifonly seen on television. It was an act ofhatred and spite on one hand, and an at-tempt to impede the advancement of theAllied Forces on the other.

The flames continued for severalmonths after Liberation, before fire-fight-ing teams were able to reach the oil wellsand extinguish them. The Kuwaiti Fire-Fighting Team had a heroic and memo-rable role in the operation and extin-guished 42 oil well fires out of the 727.They were determined to confront thedamage and restore the country’s vital re-source. They took the mission to theirhearts out of devotion and love to theircountry.

History Repeats Itself

The Saddam regime has repeated thesame environmental crime against its ownpeople during the war to liberate Iraq. Priorto their retreat, they set fire to nine oil wellsin the South Rumaila oilfield. The brutalplan had aimed at setting fire to all the oilswells but their plan was thwarted when theCoalition Forces had proceeded and con-trolled the area.

In order to control the situation beforeit deteriorates, the US administration re-quested from Kuwait’s government to par-ticipate in saving the oil wells, and Ku-wait in return did not hesitate to send theKuwaiti Fire-Fighting Team for assistance.

Memories of the fire fighting teamextinguishing Kuwait’s fires after Libera-tion were revived as the same team wasseen extinguishing fires in Iraq’s Rumailaoilfield. The same team including Sara

Kuwait Requites Evil with Good

Kuwaiti Fire-Fighting Team HelpsSave Rumaila Oil Wells

Akbar, but with the exception of thosewho have retired, insisted on participat-ing and honouring the call for duty onceagain. The operation is in a different ter-ritory, yet the crime and the criminal re-main the same.

With the worldas their witness, theymanaged to com-plete the task theyhave been entrustedwith in a record timedue to the expertisethey had gained fromtheir past experienceat extinguishingKuwait’s fires. Thespeed in which the mission was completesaved the Iraqi people massive costs.

Determination and Challenge

Extinguishing oil wells is not withoutits effort. It is a dangerous task as the in-tense heat could burn an inadequatelytrained fire fighter. The team would be-gin its day’s work at 4:30 dawn with a 170-kilometre drive to the fields and returnbefore sunset. The harmony and mutualunderstanding between team members isso profound that they understand eachother through sign language, since voicesare inaudible near a blazing well.

Extinguishing oil well fires is notmerely a task of machines pumping wa-ter and foam. Every oil well is differentand therefore requires a different treat-ment. Iraq’s oil wells required a greaterdeal of ingenuity and skill than whatwas required for Kuwait’s oil wells.Most of Iraq’s wells, unlike the one’sin Kuwait, have associated gas and arequite larger, which makes matters morecomplicated. In addition to the com-plexities, the team worked under thefear of the possible existence of mines

planted by the ousted Iraqi regime nearoil wells.

Engineer Essa Bouyabis, the managerfor the development of Kuwait’s westernoilfields and head of the Kuwaiti Fire-Fighting Team, said the team was ex-tremely cautious and prepared to face thelikelihood of explosives that the oustedIraqi regime might have set.

A Different Method

The team faced some problems extin-guishing the second burning well, A-2.Bouyabis said that this was one of the larg-est burning wells in that area, “Therefore,we had to make preparations to control it.The water was not enough and had to beincreased, equipment and instrumentswere brought, and the method of work waschanged in order to control the fire

Engineer Sara Akbar

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quickly.” The team first cooled the well,and was then able with extreme difficultyto come near and close the mouth of thewell to be able to finally extinguish it.

Appreciation and Pride

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad, Minister ofInformation, Acting Oil Minister andChairman of Kuwait PetroleumCorporation’s Board of Directors, ex-pressed his pride in the Kuwaiti Fire-Fight-ing Team and their success in saving Iraq’s

burning oil wells with the American teamin a short period of time.

Bouyabis said that the team had be-gun its preparations from the first day itwas commissioned for this task. He addedthat the ousted Iraqi regime has repeatedthe same environmental crime it had com-mitted during the invasion.

He emphasized that the State of Ku-wait did not hesitate to offer help and par-ticipate in the operation, because Kuwait’s

leadership was eager to protect the oilwealth of the people of neighbouring Iraqand help conserve the environment, whichis an international responsibility.

He added that Kuwait was not sur-prised by the crime that the regime hadcommitted against its own people. Thisstands as apparent evidence to the entireworld of the regime’s selfishness and lackof concern for preserving the people’sproperty and ensuring their future.

Sheikh Talal Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, Ex-ecutive Assistant Managing Director forCorporate Projects, Government and Par-liament Relations and Media and the offi-cial spokesman of Kuwait’s oil sector,stated, “Kuwait and its people believe thatIraq’s wealth belongs to the people them-selves, and Kuwait is eager to help pre-serve it for the Iraqi people.”

Kuwaiti Fire-Fighting

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Tribute to GreatnessRemembering

Sheikha Sheikha Al Saad

By: Sheikha Al Tourah

Kuwait recently lost one of its pioneering oil sector leaders, SheikhaSheikha Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, former Managing Direc-tor of International Marketing at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

Hers was a life that evoked admiration, inspiration and respect. Shewas held in the highest esteem throughout the world, not just in Kuwaitwhere she made many lasting contributions to the enhancement ofKuwait’s share of world oil markets. Her achievements have stood therigorous test of time, and made lasting impressions on all who met herboth internationally and locally.

She sought perfection in all her roles. She was a dutiful daughter, aremarkable leader, a genuine friend and true patriot to Kuwait. Her lifeexemplified dedication and a passionate love for her country.

The passing away of Sheikha Sheikha has left an enormous void.The shock of her loss has had a very strong impact: months after herdeath, KPC still mourns one of its quintessential leaders.

Her entire life was devoted to other people. Even when facing seri-ous setbacks, she manifested a genuine concern for others. As a memberof a noble family, she personified their fine upbringing, honourable eth-ics and self-sacrifice.

Throughout her career, which extended for over two decades in vari-ous sectors of the oil industry, she accomplished a great deal. Her achieve-ments had clear effects, both directly and indirectly, on the public rev-enues of the country.

In addition to her academic qualifications and linguistic fluency, shepossessed all the attributes of a successful leader. She was always awareof global developments, and planned everything with precision and skill;she established and maintained contacts with people from all parts of theworld and strived constantly to learn more about new cultures in orderto expand her horizons.

She began her professional career in 1979, as a sales representativein the Ministry of Oil. However, because she devoted an enormous amountof effort and perseverance to her job, she soon came to be admired by allher colleagues.

She was very passionate about her work, and performed her tasks inan exemplary manner. She joined KPC in 1980 as a Sales Coordinatorand was continuously promoted until she became a Managing Directorand influential Board Member. As Sheikha Sheikha’s career soared, hergenuine humility and intrinsic “niceness” remained unchanged despiteher increasing number of commitments.

Her main interest was to serve Kuwait. She did this by enhancingrevenues thereby boosting the economy. She also succeeded in openingand consolidating important new markets for her country, and cementedvital ties with clients.

This feature attempts to pay tribute to a truly great person and aninspirational leader. In statements full of fond remembrance and feelingsof gratitude and admiration, colleagues of the deceased Sheikha Sheikhaprovide an intimate glimpse into the life of a fascinating woman whoselegacy continues today .

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Nader SultanDeputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

From working closely with the late Sheikha Sheikha, God Bless herSoul, I would like to take this opportunity to express two heartfeltthoughts. The first is that as an MD, she had a unique relationship withher department; you could sense that it was like a family to her.

The other observation is a reflection on her dedication, strength,and courage. In the last two years, she went through a very difficult andpainful period, yet despite her suffering and medication she insisted onbeing actively involved in all aspects of marketing. Even when she hadto go abroad for treatment she would call and keep in touch with whatwas going on and that is a very tough thing to do.

Saad Al-ShuwaibManaging Director - ChairmanPetrochemicals Industries Company

My working relationship with SheikhaSheikha became stronger than ever when webecame colleagues on KPC’s Board of Direc-tors. We had worked together earlier when wewere carrying out major petrochemicalprojects, and were forming an association withthe Marketing Sector, which was supplyingus with feedstock.

I admired her high ethical standards whendealing with people of all levels, her modestyand her good manners. I especially admiredher trait as a patient listener. She would listenthoroughly even to an apposing opinion be-fore responding calmly. She had the uncannyability to remain constantly in control and notlose her temper. I strongly believe that this isa fundamental characteristic for a successfulmanager: to be able to control oneself whenthere are differences of opinion on a givensubject.

Another feature I admired in her was that she was above all, a deci-sion-maker. Her resolute and timely decision making reflected herstrength and confidence as a leader.

Sheikha Sheikha was very patriotic, and this was evident in herwork. She believed firmly in the abilities of Kuwaiti nationals and tookactive steps to realize the Kuwaitization of key jobs in all sectors throughher position on the Board of Directors. This became noticeable in theInternational Marketing Sector where she entrusted young Kuwaitis withimportant jobs.

She was equally passionate about her work. She was the first womanto occupy a key position in the International Marketing Sector and rep-resented Kuwait at international forums. Her name will go down in his-tory, due to her remarkable ability, her resilience and her pioneeringrole within the oil sector. Her formidable spirit showed in the way shefought her deadly disease. She refused to succumb to it and allow her-self to wallow in depression or self-pity. In fact, even on her medicaltrips abroad, she still kept in touch with all operations and insisted onbeing involved even at the expense of her own health.

I remember talking to her during an exceptionally critical phase ofher illness, to find her the picture of contentment and epitome of opti-mism. She told me that she had come to terms with God’s decree andwas willing to accept all that God ordained.

I pray that Allah will be merciful to her and let her dwell in Para-dise, and I hope that everybody who worked with her will pray for her.

Abdullah Al-RoumiManaging Director Transport – Chairman,Kuwait Oil Tanker Company

I have always considered the late Sheikha Sheikha to be more like asister than a colleague. Right from the beginning of my work with her atthe Ministry of Oil in 1978 alongside Sheikha Azza Al-Sabah, we usedto work together as brothers and sisters. Together we learnt the ropes inan atmosphere where teamwork and harmony prevailed.

She was very calm by nature, extremely intelligent, self-confidentand well-informed about many things in the realm of marketing. We

continued to work in the same spirit until we transferred together toKPC. I especially liked her modesty not only with me but also with allof our colleagues. She was an ideal sister to me and we used to discussand consult each other on many matters.

My recollections about Sheikha Sheikha transport me to an eventfulperiod of my professional career. Sheikha left clear imprints on the In-ternational Marketing Sector.

Her candour and generosity of spirit were felt by all. It is no exag-geration to say that her heart, her office and her house were always opento all her colleagues. I do not think that anyone will easily forget that. Agreat person is someone who leaves lasting impressions on people, andthey remember him alive or dead. I hope that the virtuous seed that sheplanted will continue to grow and that whoever succeeds her will con-tinue along the course that she charted.

I remember an incident during one of our meetings abroad with cli-ents. Sheikha, God rest her soul, played the role of ambassador, whichpresented the finest image of a Kuwaiti woman. I remember that a man-ager of a giant American company took me aside after a meeting andexpressed his admiration at seeing a Kuwaiti woman from the rulingfamily, taking part in such meetings and participating so successfully indiscussions. She was the acme of modesty with clients, and this won her

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their admiration. In fact, this reflected a shining example of Kuwaitiwomen and their prominent role in Kuwaiti society.

It pains us all that we have lost her, but this is life. God gives ahuman being a limited period on earth to work and make a difference. Ipray God to cover her with His all-encompassing grace and grant herforgiveness.

Faisal Al-MudaffExecutive Assistant Managing Director Supply

Anyone who has ever known Sheikha Sheikha would have beenstruck by her kind heart. In her way, she tried her best to make thingsbetter and more organised not only in the Marketing Sector but also inthe whole world. She was a righteous and fair person, and upheld thosequalities in all aspects of her life. She was not a hasty decision maker,and had a unique ability to discern the views of groups. If she heard of aperson who had an innovative idea or an enlightened view, you wouldfind her rushing to listen to him. She used to believe strongly in teamspirit, and always considered two opinions were better than one, andthree opinions were better than two. She never discriminated betweenjunior and senior employees. In fact, she had no qualms about approach-ing a junior employee and asking his opinion.

We first began working together in 1979 at the Ministry of Oil. Atthat time, the Ministry was responsible for marketing petroleum prod-ucts. Sheikha Sheikha was responsible for marketing gas. She used toregard any position allocated to her as a responsibility, and not as a be-stowal of honour.

It was awe inspiring the way she was eager to follow up work, evenduring her illness and periods of treatment abroad, whether in London orHouston. At times we used to request her to rest and not tire herself outwith work matters, rather leave it to us to manage difficult things. How-ever, she would respond by saying “on the contrary if you want me torecover faster, let me work and keep me updated with all developmentsbecause my work is my life, and I cannot imagine my life without work.”

As I said earlier, she believed in team spirit and was a successfulleader. It is a well known fact that leadership plays a big role in eitheruniting or dividing employees. Consequently, she was careful to selectlike-minded people to manage the various activities in the sector. Due tothe nature and importance of our work, we cannot afford to waste timeon internal quarrels and disputes. She was visionary in this respect. Shewas also far-sighted commercially, and this won my admiration after Itook up my current position and through our constant business trips. Shewas a successful marketing woman and knew how to enhance commer-cial work by strengthening human ties with clients. She never neglectedthe human aspect, something that astounded most clients. She wouldlook for things that clients from different countries liked, and act accord-ingly. For example, with our Japanese clients she tried to get to knowmore about their culture and show them her appreciation of it. This wonthe admiration of all clients who showered us with words of praise andstood by us during hard times, because of the strong ties she had built.

I hope God will help us to continue her legacy and that we may

succeed in enhancing the status of Kuwait. I ask God to accept her gooddeeds and shower her with blessings.

Bader Al-ZamamiExecutive Assistant Managing Director Planning

A strong bond of friendship tied me to the late Sheikha Sheikha dueto our long working relationship. I consider myself to be amongst thelucky ones who were fortunate to work with her closely. During thoseyears, until God encompassed her with His mercy, we worked togetherclosely. We used to travel together a lot. She was always very concernedthat work should be carried out properly and fairly for the employees.She adopted an open door, and open-hearted, policy with all. She wouldinquire about junior employees before senior ones, and was very con-cerned about any problems her workforce may be facing. She did notbelieve in creating barriers. Any person was able to speak to her aboutany problem which befell him or her. At the same time, she was strictwith us as managers and was insistent that we do our duty as well aspossible. She could not tolerate injustice and would defend her employ-ees as well as endeavouring to create the right working atmosphere. Shewould always tell us, “I will try my best to give you all I can.” You canonly imagine what having such strong support did to our morale andhow it gave us a strong sense of security.

She was more like a sister to us than a boss.I remember a funny incident during one of the journeys in the early

1990s. We were on a working trip to Taiwan with Sheikha Sheikha, Godrest her soul. Because the journey was a bit long, she was suitably dressedin casual clothes oblivious to what was in store for us on arrival. Sinceshe was the daughter of HH the Crown Prince, the Taiwanese govern-ment deemed it politically correct to organize a lavish reception cer-emony at the airport, with intensive media coverage. We were takenaback by the unexpected reception our arrival generated. Her picturesand interviews were splashed over all the local dailies much to our amuse-ment.

Those business trips also cemented our ties to one another. She likedto gather us together in her suite at the end of the day to discuss theoutcome of meetings and exchange views. Then we would sit and playcards. There were competing teams, and a brotherly, cheerful and friendlymood always prevailed; in fact it was a real family atmosphere.

It is no secret that her illness was not at all easy. Despite this, beforeher death she was eager to check up on work matters. Even after heroperations she would contact us to stay informed of all new develop-ments as much as she could.

She was generous benevolent and helped many people, and nobodycan remember anything but her goodness and generosity of spirit. MayAllah bless her and accept all her good deeds.

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Mohammad Al-QassimExecutive Assistant Managing Director Sales II

I first came to know Sheikha Sheikha, God rest her soul, in 1980,when she joined the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. At the beginningwe were somewhat apprehensive about how to deal with her, since shewas the daughter of His Highness the Crown Prince. However, theseapprehensions soon disappeared, and we discovered that she was ex-tremely modest. She instilled a spirit of friendship and at the same timedestroyed the psychological barrier that existed between us.

I have several poignant memories of Sheikha Sheikha. I rememberan unforgettable incident during the annual dinner reception that theCorporation gives on the sidelines of International Petroleum Week atLondon. Sheikha was eager to attend the meetings and get to know cli-ents. She was the first Kuwaiti woman from the oil sector to participatein such an event. Without exaggeration, everyone was astonished thatthe Crown Prince’s daughter took part in such important meetings. Thiswas a source of pride for us, since she also gave Kuwaiti women a start-ing-point in the realm of oil.

We stopped working together when she was transferred to work inthe Investment Authority, but immediately after the liberation, she re-turned to the oil sector as Executive Assistant Managing Director forMarketing. She was responsible for the most important professional junc-tures in my life. I had the honour to be chosen by her to handle theresponsibility for marketing crude oil after the liberation. That repre-sented a huge professional leap forward. Marketing crude oil at that timewas a daunting task, considering that faith in Kuwaiti crude was at a lowebb and Kuwait’s market share had been taken over by other countries.

We had to work from scratch. Her encouragement and support wereunlimited. She would travel with us to difficult regions, and accompanyus on long journeys, but she had tremendous endurance and was alwaysready to meet clients. I remember that she was ready to go out of herway to win their approval. During one of our visits to Japan, we sensedsome hesitation on their part in forming an agreement with us. We wereinvited, by those prospective clients, to a traditional tea ceremony com-plete with their famous tea-drinking rituals. We were offered an extremelybitter variety of green tea with a henna-like colour. Since its taste andappearance were not at all appealing, she asked me, “Abu Khalid, whatshould I do?” I replied, “The best thing is to drink it, because there is acontract involved.” I was aware of how sensitive the clients were oversuch matters. She forced herself to drink it, winning the clients’ admira-tion, in order to ensure a positive outcome, even though she became illafterwards. In fact, we ended up winning the contract. Thanks to hersupport, we achieved record figures in our crude oil sales to the FarEast.

After that, I was transferred to Kuwait Petroleum International Com-pany as Vice President. We met five years later during a plane trip. I was

travelling business class and she was in the first class. However, she lefther seat and preferred to sit in the seat next to mine for the whole jour-ney. She asked me why I didn’t return to KPC, and offered me the job ofExecutive Assistant Managing Director in the Marketing Sector. Yetagain, Sheikha Sheikha was behind the second most important move inmy professional life.

Our work was extremely harmonious and pleasant. She would al-ways take up our opinions and comments on all the matters which shediscussed with the Board of Directors. I do not think that the process ofinvolving employees in decision-making had happened before. How-ever, in this aspect she relied on us a great deal.

She always used to check up on what was going on at work evenwhen she was having treatment abroad, and tried to solve problems andovercome difficulties that might confront us. She was an extremely kind,sympathetic human being, and everyone who knew her speaks well ofher.

People remember her for her goodness, and the proof of this is theunusually large amount of faxes of condolences which reached us. Thecemetery was full of people, and the goodness of the deceased was feltby all. She used to console employees whose wives were afflicted by themalignant disease cancer, and facilitate measures for travel for treat-ment abroad. She even used to contact their wives to encourage them,console them and give them moral support.

In her last days we used to visit her in the palace. We tried to avoidtalking about work, but she always used to ask about it because wantedto know all the recent developments.

The last meeting at which we all gathered, was in Ramadan whenshe invited us to a Ramadan ghabqa (late evening meal). Her spiritswere very high; they were stronger than the illness. She demonstratedno signs of the effect of the illness. Quite the contrary, her morale wasvery, very high. This is something we will miss very much. Neverthe-less, I feel her spirit is still with us all the time, and her advice is stillthere. I ask God to let her dwell in Paradise and have mercy on her soul.Amen.

We can only tell you, our esteemed deceased colleague: you werethe radiant face of your country everywhere you went. You carried yourcountry in the depths of your feelings, and embodied that in your con-duct and your achievements, in sincerity in work, in dedication in per-formance, in striving for all noble patriotic values and in your exaltedideals. You were the true representative of your country in your noblecommitment, generous character and outstanding performance.

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KPC’s Commitment to Improve Health, Safety, Environment Performance

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Championing the tide of change is Nader Sul-tan, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officerand who is tirelessly working to achieve KPC’s vi-sion of becoming, “the regional leader in Health,Safety and Environment performance.” Sultan as-serts, “improvement in HSE has become a pressingpriority for the oil sector, and is also something thatwe are strongly committed to.”

The oil sector devised a thorough and integratedHSE plan that addresses key issues: ensuring suffi-cient training, evaluating and upgrading existing oilinstallations, and designing new installations thatmeet the most stringent international environmen-tal standards.

The road to improvement is laden with chal-lenges, which Sultan is aware of. “Regrettably, inthe last 3 years we have had two accidents in the oilsector, which resulted in major explosions and fire.We also had two other safety incidents during main-tenance. These four incidents resulted in the tragic,and unnecessary, loss of twelve lives. The two ma-jor explosions also resulted in asset and businesslosses in the hundred of millions of dollars. Obvi-ously our HSE systems were not effective enough.So our highest priority today is to improve our safetyperformance record. Our challenge is how to learnfrom these tragic accidents and to ensure that wededicate all the resources needed to avoid them infuture.”

Providing Necessary Tools

The oil sector’s overriding objective is to raisethe level of safety awareness and provide adequatetraining for all as KPC believes that awareness andsufficient training are key tools to safety. “We in-creased the training of key operational staff.Amongst the key elements of the training was howto recognize hazards in the work place, how to pre-vent the hazards, and safe evacuation in the eventof emergencies In our training programmes, we haveincluded the staff of our contractors. We have alsoincreased the number of emergency drills” Sultanexplains.

Large Technical Strides

What KPC aspires to achieve is a balance be-tween economic, environment and social responsi-bility. The Corporation realizes that it has an im-mense responsibility to safeguard the interests of

its stakeholders and to ensure the safety of all staffby providing a risk free work environment. Bear-ing this in mind, KPC is pursuing efforts to achievethat delicate balance. Adopting safer practices andabiding by HSE regulations reflect sound businessthinking. “On the technical side, we have under-taken major studies to fully understand the opera-tional status of all our facilities, with particular at-tention to pipelines, both above and below ground.A detailed record was established for each facility,each unit, each line, covering its age, remaininguseful life, past and future maintenance schedule.Following this an accelerated maintenanceprogramme was established for those items need-ing attention. Where it was deemed necessary, itemswere replaced if it was feasible or a schedule wasestablished for its future replacement.”

The oil sector has adopted a rigorous and pro-active HSE strategy that covers the oil sector in itsentirety as the CEO stresses. “Our subsidiary com-panies have established comprehensive HSE man-agement systems. The systems cover important el-ements such as Hazard and Risk Management, Con-tractor Safety Training, Mechanical Integrity andQuality Assurance. A high emphasis is given in thesesystems to Occupational Health Management Intwo of our companies, KNPC and PIC, leading in-ternational safety consultants have assisted thiswork.”

When it comes to preserving the environment,the environmental standards, which KPC is hold-ing, have never been higher. The major reason isthat Kuwait was itself a helpless victim to the big-gest environmental crime in the history. “In the caseof Kuwait, no one has better appreciation of thethreat to the environment than the people and theoil industry of Kuwait Following the liberation ofKuwait in February 1991 we were faced with oneof the worst environmental disasters known to man-kind.”

That crime had no parallel Sultan says, “in theUSA there was a public outcry with the ExxonValdez incident in Alaska, which was a single spillof some 300,000 barrels. In Kuwait we had to copewith the burning of some 5-6 million barrels perday of oil from the malicious destruction of 727wells. Thanks to the Grace of God and the help from27 fire-fighting teams from around the world, wewere able to put out the fires in close to 8 months.As Kuwaitis, we now have the utmost respect andappreciation for the environment. Our challenge is

to tap the same dedication and energy that was dem-onstrated in 1991, to improve our current environ-ment and safety performance.”

There are two approaches to KPC’s policy onthe environment “Firstly with regard to existing fa-cilities, our objective is to continually invest in themto upgrade their environmental performance in linewith the changing standards. We recently completeda comprehensive audit of the environmental statusof our facilities, and developed a thoroughprogramme to ensure that all our facilities will within3 years exceed the environmental standards set bythe EPA.”

When it comes to new facilities Sultan explains,“our policy is to design them to meet the most strin-gent international environmental standards For in-stance, the EQUATE chemical plant was designedto meet the specification of Alberta Canada. Simi-larly, for all new projects, we evaluate the futuretrend in the international specifications and designour facilities to meet them.”

The oil sector will not tighten the purse stringsto fulfil its ambitious plans. “We estimate to spendsome KD 370 million in the present period, cover-ing 31 projects and another KD 190 million in the

Resolve to Become Regional LeaderNader Sultan Underlines Oil Sector’sPlans to Improve HSE Performance

next 3 years.”The amounts the oil sectors stands to spend to

fulfil its HSE objective is an indication of its com-mitment, and has the full blessing of the SupremePetroleum Council. “The Council and the KPCBoard will not economize on spending on HSE. Thenecessary funds will be made available for anyneeded projects related to HSE” enthuses Sultan.

The resolve to conduct its operations in a so-cially responsible manner while respecting the en-vironment is apparent. “We realize that we have toimprove our record in Health, Safety and the Envi-ronment. The safety of our people is a critical prior-ity for us. We are committed to put as much resource,both human as well as financial, behind our im-provement effort. The environmental disaster of1991 has made us appreciate the potential threat tothe environment. It also showed us that with the rightdedication and resources we are able to overcomedifficult challenges. Our new challenge is to becomea regional leader in HSE” he confidently concludes.

Nader Sultan

Improving HSE performance has become a pressing KPC priority. Exceedingly, tighter envi-ronmental policies and regulations are exerting a constant pressure on the oil industries world-wide to reconsider their HSE policies. The oil sector in Kuwait had to face adverse tragedies,which caused it to revaluate its HSE policies and has in fact taken large strides to reinvent its HSEstrategy.

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The Goals, Supervision

and Management

How did the project start? What arethe economic and environmentalfeasibilities? What are the expectationsof this project?

The gasses and condensates from thewestern oil fields contain high quantitiesof sulphuric acid compounds, comparedwith other fields in Kuwait.

Kuwait National Petroleum Companysought to benefit from these gasses as partof its strategy to optimise oil resources anddiversify income while preserving the en-vironment. Therefore, the Acid DegassingPlant was established with two sulphurrecovery units which reduce emissions.

What about the construction andmanagement of the project? Who super-vised?

The best international companies wereselected to construct the plant in accor-dance with international specifications.

Director General of Al-Ahmadi Refinery:

“Acid Degassing Plant,an Environmental,

Financial Advantage”

KPC World -Exclusive

Mr. Hamza Bakhsh, Director General of Al-Ahmadi Refinery, said that the Acid Degassing Plant aims to optimise

the usage of national resources through diversifying income sources and at the same time preserving the environ-

ment. He emphasized that the plant produces butane and propane gasses of high purity.

Speaking to KPC World, Mr. Bakhsh pointed out that the construction of the plant was carried out by the best-

selected international companies and was supervised by qualified cadres of KPC’s personnel.

The Acid Degassing Plant commissioned its operation three months ago and started to receive a daily amount of

feed of 250 cubic feet of acidic gasses from Kuwait Oil Company. The gasses are treated in the plant and then go

through an extraction process to extract a gas used in the Gas Plant at the same refinery.

KPC World conducted this interview with the Director General on the launch of the final operation of the Mina Al-

Ahmadi Refinery of the project.

These companies have experience in gasmanufacturing and treatment. The projecthas been supervised by well qualified cad-res of KPC staff.

Eliminating Problems

Did you encounter any significantproblems since the operation of theplant at the end of last August; particu-larly that the plant operates at its maxi-mum capacity now? Have you over-come the pipeline problem that emergedbefore the actual operation?

Naturally, there were some problemsduring the first operation of the plant. Thisis natural to any project or manufacturingunit. We have already overcome some ofthese problems, while there are others thatwill be overcome later through additionalmodifications that will not affect the cur-rent production line.

Can you explain the significance ofacid degassing from associated gassesand condensates for the customer and

Western Oil Fieldscontain high rates of

sulphuric acidcompounds

Two environmentallyfriendly Sulfur

Recovery Units forthe reduction of

emissions

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the oil market in particular? And howcan it be significant to the ordinaryreader in general?

The process produces butane and pro-pane gasses of high purity for the market.In general, treatment of acidic gasses andcondensates associated with crude oil havepositive return on environment andeconomy, where national resources areutilized without causing damage to envi-ronment..

Further Details about

the Project

It is worth mentioning that directorgeneral of the refinery has pointed outthat the plant has several units whichprovide treated gas as well as mainunits.

The environment receives great at-tention in the operation of many unitsbuilt for this purpose, such as: a unitfor treating various gasses under sul-phur recovery unit (TGT), which in-creases the efficiency of sulphur recov-

ery unit up to 99.5% and reduces therelease of sulphurous gasses into theatmosphere. For environmental protec-tion, there is also another unit for theremoval of acidic water and its treat-ment. As for the main units, they are asfollows:

- Acidic Degassing Unit, usingdiaethanolamine solvent at a capacityof 230 million cubic feet per day. Thegas treated in this unit is sent to the GasLiquefaction Plant for the manufactur-ing and production of propane, butaneand natural gas.

- Acidic Degassing Unit from gascondensates at a capacity of 39 thou-sand barrel per day. The condensatestreated in this unit are sent to Degas-sing Plant where the separation processtakes place.

- Acidic Gas Boosting Unit, usingUcarsol solvent in order to increase theconcentration of hydrogen sulphide tothe level of manufacturing standards insulphur recovery units.

- Two sulphur recovery units at a to-tal capacity of 282 tons of liquefied sul-phur per day.

- A unit for acidic degassing fromactive gases at a capacity of 64 millioncubic feet per day. The units providean active gas free of sulphur for the pro-pane and butane treatment unit in theGas Liquefaction Plant.

In addition, the plant includes sup-porting units and a number of other fa-cilities, which provide the main unitswith the necessary steam for the heat-ing and operational process. The projectwas principally ready for operation lastyear and operated for a while, but offi-cials decided to suspend the operationuntil the pipelines and connections be-tween Kuwait Oil Company’s facilitiesand Mina Ahmadi Refinery were com-plete. After completion, the commis-sioning operation went on for a fewdays, then the plant commenced opera-tion at its maximum capacity withoutany problems at the end of last August.

The total cost of plant’s construc-tion reached KD 35 million (KuwaitiDinar thirty five million).

Certain problemshave been

eliminated withoutaffecting production

Plant’s constructionconforms tointernational

specifications andwas supervised by

qualified staff

Hamza Bakhsh

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Al-Arbeed stated that people resid-ing in areas near the fields would noticea decrease in smoke emissions by ap-proximately 90%. Within two years, theinstallation of replacement parts for thegas-flaring equipment in the Burganfields would be completed, resulting in atotal elimination of smoke and a pollut-ant free environment.

He said that the Health, Safety andEnvironment Campaign would continuefor six months. A number of projects havealready been recently completed. Al-Arbeed emphasised that KOC manage-ment is committed to raising HSE aware-ness amongst employees in order to en-sure their safety. He explained that theCompany is carrying out an assessmentof all the oil installations to evaluate theirsafety and their environmental effects, soas to improve equipment and eliminatepollution.

Al-Arbeed explained that KOC isimplementing various studies in conjunc-tion with several institutions. The Kuwait

Kuwait Oil Company LaunchHealth, Safety, Environment

Campaign

Under the patronage of HE Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, the Minister of Information, Acting Minister

of Oil and Chairman of the Board of Directors of

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has launched a Health, Safety and Environment

campaign aimed at raising awareness of these important issues.

Ahmad Al-Arbeed, Managing Director for Exploration and Production and Chairman of KOC, declared in his

speech during the opening day of the launch, that KOC has taken great steps in improving the Company’s environ-

mental performance. This is illustrated by the replacement of all smoke-emitting, gas-flaring equipment in the

Muqawwa and Ahmadi oilfields.

Research Centre is looking into the ef-fects of the Company’s operations ongroundwater whilst Kuwait University isexamining the impact of the Company’swork on the atmosphere. These areamong other studies conducted by spe-cialist foreign agencies to assess thesafety of the oil installations upon work-ers.

He also guaranteed that in the caseof existing problems, equipment would

be upgraded to eliminate any possibleharm to employees. During the past year,some studies have already been com-pleted. In addition, the Company hasadopted a series of projects and ear-marked the budgets necessary for suchan undertaking.

Al-Arbeed stressed that previously,KOC achieved many successes with re-gard to Health, Safety and Environment.Examples include the replacement ofdamaged underground pipes, and pipeswhose actual life span had ended. Al-Arbeed said that the Company has refor-matted HSE regulations consistent withup-to-date, internationally approved stan-dards. The main guidelines, which are thefirst phase of this project, have alreadybeen drawn up and will be circulated toemployees.

He explained that the Company hasadopted an important long-term studythat evaluates the effects of its operationson people’s health and the environment.The Company has decided to select thefirst three children born into families of

KOC replaced allsmoke-emitting,

gas-flaring equipment inthe Muqawwa

andAhmadi oilfields.

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employees at Al-Ahmadi Hospital in or-der to follow their development frombirth to adulthood.

Al-Arbeed added that this initiativewould be of great benefit for the future.He explained that the Company wouldfollow the children’s health with care,and if any symptoms connected to theCompany’s operations should occur,treatment would follow immediately.These results will form a basis uponwhich the Company will evaluate andupgrade its installations to ensure ahealthier environment. KOC, he contin-ued, decided to take this initiative be-cause it is one of the oldest companies inKuwait, in which generations of nation-als have worked and through whichKuwait’s natural wealth has been ex-ploited.

The Chairman of the OrganisingCommittee, Abdullah AbdulSalam, saidin his speech, that the campaign promotesthe belief that HSE is an inseparable partof every activity. The Company has pre-pared a series of measures to raise em-

ployees’ and contractors’ awareness ofhealth, safety and environmental issuesin order to avoid accidents.

He explained that one of the aims ofthis campaign is to promote a philoso-phy aimed at protecting health, preserv-ing resources and producing a minimumof waste and pollution while working toachieve strategic aims. He said that thehighest standards must be observed in theconstruction, operation and maintenanceof facilities, in order to protect and pre-serve. AbdulSalam promised that finan-cial gains would not be prioritised overenvironmental interests and added thatemployees’ participation in preventingdanger and pollution is encouragedthrough the appreciation of their efforts.He went on to explain that the campaignincludes a supporting seven-week mediacampaign held in seven different areasof Kuwait. Finally, he also revealed thatthe campaign includes a three-monthprogramme about HSE, in which eachmonth is devoted to a different relatedsubject.

the Company has

adopted

an important

long-term study

that evaluates

the effects of

its operations

on people’s

health and

the environment

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Asad Al-Sa’ad confirms to “KPC World”

“The success of Mina Abdullah Refinery in reducingthe sulfur content of diesel product

increases our competitive position worldwideas well as sales and profits”

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e-

pi

KPC World exclusive

In an exclusive interview to KPC World, Abdullah Asad Ahmad Al-Asa’d, Director General of the Mina AbdullahRefinery at Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) said, “the recent success of Mina Abdullah Refinery inreducing the percentage of sulfur in diesel from 1% to 0.5% will increase the product’s competitive position in worldmarkets as well as add to sales and profits.”

The aim of this project was to improve the quality of diesel product and meet world market demand for dieselwhich meets the new specifications.

He emphasized that the success of project, which was completeby July 2002, was a result of the support of topmanagement and the combined efforts of KPC, Ahmadi and Shuaiba Refineries and the staff of Mina Abdullah Refin-ery.

KNPC pointed out in a press release that the refinery had successfully completed the shift to the production of lowsulfur diesel.The first consignment of diesel containing 0.5 % sulfur was exported to Pakistan on board the vesselWarba on the 8th of July 2002.

On of the most important achievements of Mina Abdullah Refinery during the transformation stage was main-taining the diesel production rate at the Crude Oil Distillation Units and Carbonization Unit in addition to thestorage of low sulfur diesel for mixing with residual quantities in high sulfur diesel tanks. The refinery also succeededin maintaining the standards of diesel’s sulfur rate during the transformational processes as well as speeding up ofthe work on the high sulfur diesel pipeline to Mina Ahmadi Refinery with a view to completing it one month ahead ofschedule.

To shed more light on this subject, KPC World conducted the following interview with the Director General ofMina Abdullah Refinery.

Special File

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In the near future, what are therefinery’s prospects of success regard-ing the reduction of sulfur content indiesel product?

The success of Mina Abdullah Refin-ery in reducing the percentage of sulfurin diesel product will have a positive im-pact as the improvement of the product’sspecifications makes it more competitiven world markets and will result in an in-crease in sales and profitability.

What were the phases of theproject?

Preparation for the project startedmore than a year ago. Different opera-tional plans and practical experimentswere developed for the manufacturingunits and laboratory analysis took placefor creating the best mixture of dieselcomponents together with dispatching

high sulfur components to Mina AhmadiRefinery for treatment. The projectmaintains the refinery’s obligations formanufacturing other diesel products inorder to minimize its effects on therefinery’s operations and profitability.

As for the important achievementsduring the transformational stage, theycan be defined as follows:

1. Maintain the diesel production rateat the crude oil distillation units and Car-bonization Unit.

2. Store low sulfur diesel to mix it withresidual quantities in high sulfur dieseltanks.

3. Maintain sulfur rate of diesel as perspecifications during the transforma-tional phase.

4. Building the high sulfur diesel pipe-line to Mina Ahmadi Refinery withinone month prior to the specified date.

The realization of this achievementcomes as a result of the support of topmanagement, KPC and both Ahmadiand Shuaiba Refineries and the staff ofMina Abdullah Refinery.

Treatment of Residualsin Ahmadi

It is understood from the project’srequirements that the mechanism isbased on dispatching the componentsof high sulfur to Mina Abdullah Re-finery for treatment, could you ex-plain this process in more detail?

After mixing the diesel componentsand manufacturing of low sulfur dieselproduct (0.5%), there are residuals ofhigh sulfur diesel components which are

Several Simultaneous

Achievements

sent to Mina Ahmadi Refinery via thenew diesel pipeline where they are treatedin the Effluent Diesel Unit and trans-formed to a low sulfur diesel product.

Does the project have other mis-sions in terms of expansion and pro-duction in the other KNPC refineries?

KNPC’s refineries keep a constant eyeon world market demands and require-ments and seek to provide and developproduct quality and expand productionaccording to permitted capacities.

Asad Ahmad Al-saa’d

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Recycling office waste reflects anawareness of the environment, particu-larly for those international corporationsworking within the oil sector. Kuwait Pe-troleum Corporation plays a pioneeringrole in this respect, because as a parentcompany for other oil companies, it paysgreat attention to environmental problems.These are serious issues and should begiven special attention in order to benefitKuwait, our beloved country.

A recycling system to deal with of-fice waste in all work areas has been inplace at Kuwait Oil Company, a subsid-iary of KPC, since 1997. This system hasproved to be extremely useful in the fol-lowing main areas: -

- In environmental terms, it consider-ably reduced the area used for dumpingoffice paper waste.

- On an economic level it reduced thecost of a “Waste Collection and TransportContract” by approx. KD. 300,000 (threehundred thousand Kuwaiti Dinars) overa 3 years period.

- Boosted environmental awarenessamongst KOC’s employees.

This has resulted in the Chairman ofthe Board of Directors being awarded thethird environmental award of the State ofKuwait presented by the EndowmentFund for Environmental Works under thepatronage of His Highness the CrownPrince and Prime Minister Shaikh SaadAl-Abdulla Al-Salem Al-Sabah.

Since we are currently in the processof establishing and constructing the OilSector Complex expected to accommo-date about 1400 employees, it is impera-

Today’s Waste isTomorrow’s Raw Materials

Prepared by:Engineer Ahmad Al-IbrahimThe Corporation’s ProjectCoordinator

tive to take this opportunity to orientateour employees in the importance of officewaste recycling and implant in them theprinciples of environmental protection. Wealso need to explain to them the meaningof waste management and try to imple-ment the system in addition to recycling.This corresponds to the corporation’s in-tentions to reduce expenses. The prin-ciples of environmental protection willhave positive effects on us, on our belovedcountry and on future generations. With avast volume of work generated by theabove employees, the amount of wastegenerated necessitates strict measures toprevent harmful effects upon our preciousenvironment. It should not be forgottenthat waste products can be used benefi-cially and transformed into valuable ma-terials instead of being a burden on theState.

We would like to take this opportunityto mention that the Oil Sector, representedby the Upper Management of both KuwaitPetroleum Corporation and the Ministryof Oil, pays great attention to and givesthe highest priority to environmental prob-lems. Employees have always been well

educated regarding the preservation of theenvironment. The significance of the of-fice waste-recycling project needs to behighlighted, and the principles of environ-mental preservation also need to be pro-moted. The importance of waste manage-ment must be understood by the variouslevels of employees and they should beencouraged to cooperate in adhering toinstructions relating to waste sorting intheir offices. No doubt, this will have apositive impact on environmental pollu-tion, and will also improve human healththe working environment.

The slogan: “Today’s Waste isTomorrow’s Raw Materials” has gainedthe attention of all workers in the field ofwaste management and they are trying byevery means to implement it. To achievethis, new techniques and technologies areneeded to reduce, reuse and recycle wasteas much as possible due to the currentshortage of raw materials and natural re-sources. The above motto is better under-stood in the context of oil. In the past, oilwas no more than waste, made up of dif-ferent organic remains, transformed be-neath the earth under conditions of ex-

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Special File

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treme pressure and heat to form an essen-tial source for energy and products. In eco-nomic and social terms, its importancecannot be underestimated, for it has beenone of the vital factors that has shapeddeveloped and developing countries alike.

Waste recycling is a method of wastemanagement that aims to collect, sort, re-cover and reduce waste. The system alsoincludes means of disposing of any wasteresulting from the process itself that can-not be used after recovery or recycling.Recyclable materials can be defined aswaste that can be reused. Waste recyclingsystems can be categorized as follows:

- Direct waste use/reuse system. Inthis system, waste can be utilized as anintermediate material without being sub-jected to any industrial processes prior touse. It can also be reused in the manufac-ture of products without any treatment.

- Recovering materials from waste forfuture use, especially materials of eco-nomic value such as recovering metalsfrom waste products.

The above system is called reclama-tion (performing an industrial operation(s)to recover what is useful or to reactivatevaluable material). Examples of thesemethods can be seen with the recovery oflead from used batteries and the regenera-tion of used organic solvents. The sys-tems are dependent upon the nature of thewaste, and the hazardous constituents pos-sibly contained therein. A further impor-tant and often difficult issue is how to sepa-rate the materials. Chemical separationtechniques such as distillation, physicalseparation techniques like osmotic pres-sure, filtration or electrical separation byelectrolysis are all methods by which in-dustry can separate materials from oneanother. Despite these additional industrial

activities, reusing and remanufacturingwaste after sorting has gained great eco-nomic and environmental importance.

The Environmental

and Economical

Aspects of Waste Recycling:

- The preservation of natural resources.- The preservation of raw materials and

the decrease of raw material imports.- The preservation of energy consumed

in industrial operations.- In economic terms, the financial bur-

den necessitated by waste collection, trans-port and dumping is lessened.

- The decline in the quantity of wastereaching landfill sites results in the reduc-tion of the cost of landfilling and environ-mental protection of sites e.g. reduces thearea of land used for this purpose.

- Waste recycling will reduce the vol-ume and quantity of waste needing to beincinerated. Recycling requires the re-moval of non-combustible materialsthereby reducing the size of incineratorsand the costs of establishing them. In ad-dition it will decrease the volume of ashresulting from combustion.

- Waste recycling reduces dangerousair emissions which will, in turn, help re-duce the cost of equipment required tocontrol the contaminants.

Sorting and recycling capabilities dif-fer from country to country. Some coun-tries pay attention to one particular formof waste. Other countries follow an in-tensive recycling policy entailing the com-plete sorting of all waste items into thosethat can be reused or those that can be re-cycled. This includes the transformationof organic waste into composts which isknown as solid waste management. Thisis not a procedure that readily correspondsto either incineration or dumping. Rather,if successfully implemented, it may re-place them.

Engineer Ahmad Al-Ibrahim

the Oil Sector,

represented by the

Higher Management of

both Kuwait Petroleum

Corporation and the

Ministry of Oil, pays

great attention to and

gives the highest priority

to environmental

problems

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Special File

K-Companies’ Effective Oil SpillContingency Plan

By Captain Awad Saeed

Coordinator Oil SpillHSE Dept.

The oil spill contingency plan has been developed to the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conser-

vation Association guidelines.

Past events in Kuwait and elsewhere in the world have heightened awareness of the risks and consequences of oil

spill at sea, on the shoreline or inland. The possibility of an oil spill, however remote, generates concern within the

company, local and national authorities, government and media. If a spill has occurred all of these parties generate

an intense demand for information and action and these pressures will focus on KPC and the affiliated company

concerned. If the incident is not handled correctly it can generate complex technical, legal and public relations

problems, exposing the company to considerable cost and serious damage to its reputation both in Kuwait and inter-

nationally

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Prevention remains the cheapest and bestpossible cure, and within KPC affiliates, pri-ority must be given to maintaining and up-grading methods of oil spill prevention.However, should a spillage occur a rapid andeffective response will be critical in mini-mizing the resulting pollution and in dem-onstrating KPC’s commitment. When suchcircumstances arise, the optimum organiza-tion structure and procedures will dependvery much on the nature and severity of theincident.

No two incidents will be the same hencethe purpose of this plan is to provide instruc-tion, guidance and information on a tieredresponse appropriate to the size, location, andpotential impact of the spill. The objectivesof the plan are to minimize ecological dam-age and the adverse impact on KPC and K-company business activities.

Purpose of the Oil Spill Con-

tingency Plan

The Oil Spill Contingency Plan is pro-vided to assist personnel in dealing with anunexpected discharge of oil entering the en-vironment as the result of activities which

are the responsibility of KPC or one of theaffiliated company operations nationally andglobally. Its primary purpose is to ensure thatthe affiliated plans set in motion the neces-sary actions to stop or minimise the dischargeand to mitigate its effects. Effective planningensures that the necessary actions are takenin a structured, logical and timely manner.

The plan requires the affiliated compa-nies (K companies) to structure their Oil SpillContingency Plans to guide oil spill responseteams through the various actions and deci-sions, which will be required in an incidentresponse. The tables, figures and checklistsprovide a visible form of information, thusreducing the chance of oversight or errorduring the early stages of dealing with anemergency situation.

For any plan to be effective it has to be:* Familiar to those with key functions

at KPC and affiliated companies.* Reviewed and updated regularly.* Tested for viability in regular practices.

Training and exercises in implementa-tion of the mitigation procedures must beheld at regular intervals. Similarly, exercisesin the communications procedures will alsobe necessary.

Captain Awad Saeed

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Scope of the Plan

National Level (Kuwait):The size, location and timing of a spill

is totally unpredictable. KPC affiliated com-panies are at risk from a variety of sourcesand activities-from on-land interceptor op-eration, on shore and sub-marine pipelines,vessel loading and marine accidents off thecoastline involving KPC ships or cargoes.KPC and its affiliated companies may alsobe required to respond to any marine acci-dent that threatens oil pollution of the Ku-waiti shoreline, as defined in the KuwaitNational Oil Spill Contingency Plan. “K”companies must have their own oil spill con-tingency plans to cater for Tier 1 and Tier 2marine and land spills, integrated at (Tier 2&3) with the KPC plan. In the case of majorspills (Tier 2/3) and /or begin to impact out-side of the site, KPC will coordinate withthe affected company the spill response in-

cluding pooling off the oil sector combinedoil spill response resources and enrol exter-nal organisation involvement. This plan cov-ers all aspects of assessing an oil spill,organising and mobilising appropriate re-sponses to the spill and coordinating/liasingwith the range of external organisationswhich may become involved.

International Level

International Operations OutsideKuwait

KPI: Has its own spills contingency plandeveloped in accordance with relevant na-tional/international oil spill legislation. At theTier 2 and Tier3 levels the site-specific con-tingency plans are integrated with KPC Planthrough KPI Crisis Management Team(CMT)

All KPI assets have to implement the OilSpill Contingency Plan, which integrates theoperating units and site plans with the re-spective country’s national plan for spillswithin the European Union Thailand terri-torial waters. The national competent au-thorities define the relevant oil spill legisla-tive requirements for operators. The mini-mum requirement would define KPI’s re-sponsibility for Tier 1 spills and interfacingwith other bodies in the event of Tier 2 orTier 3 spills.

International spill from vessels incidentsin countries where there is no KPI operatingunit the KPI Marine Oil Spill contingencyplan shall be implemented.

KOTC: For any oil spill, a planed Ship-board Oil Pollution Emergency Plan(SOPEP) is maintained as outlined in thecompany’s Shipboard Management System“Vessel Response Plan & Guidance on Emer-gency Procedures” in accordance with KPCOil Spill Contingency Plan.

KPC International Marketing (KPCMarine): has response plan/coordination pro-cedure with the chartered owners for nationaland international oil spill.

Authorities and

Responsibilities

Kuwait National Oil Spill ContingencyPlan

The Environment Public Authority(EPA) is the co-ordinating agency for ma-rine oil spill response. The EPA chairs theKuwait National Marine Oil Spill Contin-gency Plan established to deal with oil pol-lution matters.

A minor spill in port or at an industryfacility will be dealt with by the relevantoperator who would appoint their own On-Scene Commander (OSC) and utilise theirown resources. Thus the respective port au-thority would deal with a spill at Shuwaikhor Shuaiba port. A minor spill at Kuwait Oil

Company (KOC) and Kuwait National OilCompany (KNPC) marine facilities wouldbe dealt with by the KOC (KOC/KNPC con-tract) and one at Mina Al Zour would be dealtwith by Saudi Arabian Texaco.

In the event of a major spill withinKuwait’s territorial waters, the chairman ofthe National Committee would be notifiedto convene the committee and appoint an On-Scene Commander from the relevant portauthority, KOC or SAT, depending on thelocation.

Committee representatives have the au-thority to allocate resources from their ownorganisations. A main communications cen-tre would be established at the offices of theEPA and a command post would be set upcloser to the location of the incident.

Interface with other plansNational (Kuwait):This plan is designed to be integrated

with a number of external plans, those be-ing:

* Oil Spill Contingency Plan (KOC).* Kuwait National Marine Oil Spill Con-

tingency Plan.

Oil Spill Response

Limited(OSRL)

• KPC member of Oil Spill Re-sponse Ltd.., UK effective January2000.

• OSRL the world’s largest inter-national oil spill response companywholly owned by 26 of the most respon-sible and committed oil companies inalliance since 2001 with East Asia Re-sponse Limited the largest oil spillcompany in the Pacific region (EARL)

• OSRL and EARL aim throughthe alliance to provide a resource tooil spills efficiently and effectively onglobal basis.

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* Kuwait Petroleum Corporation CrisisManagement Manual.

* Oil Spill Contingency Plan (KNPC).* SOPEP (Shipboard Oil Pollution

Emergency Plan) KOTC.* Emergency Disaster Plan (PIC).

International: At the international level

spill legislation for the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier3 which is integrated with KPC Plan throughKPI crisis Management.

• KOTC: For any oil spill, a plannedShipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan(SOPEP) is maintained as outlined in thecompany’s Shipboard Management System“Vessel Response Plan & Guidance on Emer-

At International Level• Spills from KPC, KOTC and KPI char-

tered Vessels or Facilities operations shallbe managed in accordance with everycompany’s oil spill contingency Plan.

• KPC Authorization to mobilize the glo-bal contractor is granted to KOTC and KPI.

• At Tier 3 oil spills and on coordinationwith the affected Company the KPC CrisisManagement Team will be activated.

• KPC media will coordinate with theaffected company for the press release.

K- Companies Responsibilities• KPC is to be notified of all spills im-

mediately or within 24 hours according tothe Tier and level of oil spills.

• At the asset level (facility) each com-pany is responsible for the containment, re-covery and disposal of any Marine and Landoil spills.

• Oil spill response resources within thecompany must be capable for the contain-ment, recovery and disposal of any oil spillup to Tier 2 level that is a spill no larger than600 tons.

• At the KPC corporate level KOC maybe required to combine resources and re-spond to larger Tier 2 & Tier 3 spills in other‘K’ Company facilities.

• At the National Oil Spill ContingencyPlan Level (NOSCP) KOC may be requiredto combine resources and respond to an off-shore/ nearshore spill at the request of theKPC IMT and the EPA.

Responsibilities Tier Level• Tier 1: Spill size up to 10 tons (1 ton

with KOTC).• Tier 2: Spills > 10 tons and up to 600

tons Each K-company is responsible for

spill reporting, containment recovery anddisposal of all Tier 1 & Tier 2 spills occur-ring from operations both on land and on sea.

• Tier 3: Spill Size > 600 tons• Kuwait National Oil Spill Contingency

Plan to be activated .• KPC (IMT) to be activated to coordi-

nate response resources from within the K-Companies, National Plan and OSRL.

the relevant site specific Oil Spill Contin-gency Plan must integrate with the follow-ing:

* Relevant National Oil Spill Contin-gency Plan (NOSCP).

* Kuwait Petroleum Corporation CrisisManagement Manual.

* SOPEP (Shipboard Oil PollutionEmergency Plan).

Plan Objectives National

• Guidelines to enable “K” companiesto develop its own oil spill contingency plansto activate a timely response for Tier 1 &Tier 2 Marine and Land oil spills.

• Link fully with the corporate (KPC)and Kuwait National Oil spill ContingencyPlans. It also contains similar informationfor a corporate role in coordinating supportresponse resources to Tier 2 & Tier 3 oil spillswithin Kuwait through The KPC IncidentManagement Team (IMT).

Plan Objectives

International

• KPI: has its own oil spill contingencyplan in accordance with relevant national oil

gency Procedures” in accordance with Na-tional and International rules, regulations andguidelines integrated with KPC Oil SpillContingency Plan.

KPC Responsibilities

At National Level• At the KPC corporate level, the KPC

Incident Management Team (IMT) respon-sibility is to coordinate support and assis-tance to K-Companies in handling a Tier 2or Tier 3 Oil Spill incidents, resulting fromtheir operations. Such a situation may requirea combined effort of K-companies oil spillresponse resources, which the KPC IMT willcontrol including the National plan resourcesand mobilising the Global contractor

KPC Responsibilities• At the National Oil Spill Contingency

Plan Level (NOSCP) KPC ‘K’ Companiesmay be required to combine resources andrespond to an offshore/ near shore spill atthe request of the EPA.

• KPC media will coordinate with theaffected company for the press release.

• KPC shall notify the Global Contrac-tor (OSRL) and Mobilisation will be inagreement with the affected company.

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EQUATE Sets Safety Records

Hamad Al-Terkeit:

“We were able to successfully market all our products in2002 and we believe that 2003 will be even better.”

EQUATE Sets Safety Records

Hamad Al-Terkeit:

“We were able to successfully market all our products in2002 and we believe that 2003 will be even better.”

KPC World Exclusive

EQUATE Petrochemicals Company is justifiably proud of its consistent safety and security achieve-ments. The latest success is achieving an incident-free record of three and half million hours. This realiza-tion, as explained by Hamad Al-Terkeit, President & CEO, is due to the implementation of numerous policiesand programs ensuring that EQUATE maintains world-class Health, Safety and Environmental standards.

Al-Terkeit emphasized that this safety record is an integral part of EQUATE’s successes, which includeproduction, sales, environment and financial performance.

The Chief Executive confirmed that despite the adverse economic conditions experienced by most mar-kets during the last year, “We were able to market all our products as planned. However, we realized profitsless than the estimated figures in the budget due to a decline in the price of petrochemicals in the worldmarket.”

He said in an interview with KPC World that, “There are more than twelve local industrial companiesrelying on EQUATE’s products, particularly plastic which was previously imported”. He expressed his opti-mism for the year 2003, as expectations indicate a high global demand for petrochemicals. He said that thisdevelopment was likely to be established as a future global trend.

Al-Terkeit stressed his appreciation of the active role played by KPC and its subsidiary companies such asKNPC and PIC. He said, “We are proud of the support, cooperation and attention we receive from ourcolleagues in KPC.”

Here is the following interview:

KPC World Exclusive

EQUATE Petrochemicals Company is justifiably proud of its consistent safety and security achieve-ments. The latest success is achieving an incident-free record of three and half million hours. This realiza-tion, as explained by Hamad Al-Terkeit, President & CEO, is due to the implementation of numerous policiesand programs ensuring that EQUATE maintains world-class Health, Safety and Environmental standards.

Al-Terkeit emphasized that this safety record is an integral part of EQUATE’s successes, which includeproduction, sales, environment and financial performance.

The Chief Executive confirmed that despite the adverse economic conditions experienced by most mar-kets during the last year, “We were able to market all our products as planned. However, we realized profitsless than the estimated figures in the budget due to a decline in the price of petrochemicals in the worldmarket.”

He said in an interview with KPC World that, “There are more than twelve local industrial companiesrelying on EQUATE’s products, particularly plastic which was previously imported”. He expressed his opti-mism for the year 2003, as expectations indicate a high global demand for petrochemicals. He said that thisdevelopment was likely to be established as a future global trend.

Al-Terkeit stressed his appreciation of the active role played by KPC and its subsidiary companies such asKNPC and PIC. He said, “We are proud of the support, cooperation and attention we receive from ourcolleagues in KPC.”

Here is the following interview:

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EQUATE has achieved a newrecord in the number of working hoursthat witnessed both safety and staff at-tendance. This record, according to thecompany’s statistics, reaches 100 percent. What does this indicate?

Our employees are committed to highstandards of safety and security. Theseprinciples form an integral component oftheir work performance and are essentialelements in the Company’s incentiveprogramme. Their commitment and senseof responsibility has provided EQUATEwith constant achievements and has setnew records. Neither an accident occurrednor a single employee was absent for 3.5million work-hours.The hours used for thismeasurement are accumulated usingguidelines stricter than those commonlyused in other industries within Kuwait.EQUATE counts a lost workday from thefirst day that the employee cannot reportto work. Many other Industries in Kuwaitdo not start counting lost workdays untilthe employee has missed three days.

EQUATE is keen to preserve the en-vironment and to create sound workingconditions through the application of strictprocedures. We seek help from interna-tional agencies and follow an exactingevaluation method for staff training. Thishigh standard of concern and responsibil-ity has enabled EQUATE to establish newrecords in the fields of health, safety andenvironmental excellence. Furthermore,the contractors’ employees are subject tothe same safety and security standardsadopted by the company.

It is obvious that the Companyaims to realize optimum achievementsin production and management. Arethere stakes behind this challenge? Doyou aspire to setting a good example toother companies, whether in the privateor public sectors? If so, to what extenthas this been realised so far?

We have plans and objectives whichwe draw up in advance, so we can definewhat we want to achieve every year. Weprovide our employees with interestingand challenging jobs, encourage them toincrease and update their skills, and pro-vide them with opportunities for progres-

sion and career development. This createsan atmosphere of enthusiasm and compe-tition between various departments. Anorganization is only as good as the peoplewho staff it. Therefore, our HR philoso-phy is based on the premise that the suc-cess of EQUATE is a direct result of itsemployees. Each employee is a valued andimportant member of our organization. Webelieve that success can only be achievedwhen employees are enthusiastic abouttheir jobs. In this company, managementis required to support employees and cre-ate appropriate working conditions.

We provide in-house trainingprogrammes that are conducted by highlyqualified EQUATE personnel. Hence, thebenefits are much greater than expected.

Similarly, all the internal work iscarried out through teamwork: centraliza-tion and bureaucracy do not exist. We de-pend on network usage, thus internal pa-per-work is hardly used. We are proud tobe described as a Company that sets anexample to other world-class companiesand we take great pride in our achieve-ments.

Competition

To what extent did the high prof-its (110 million US dollars) realised bythe Company in 2001, its fourth year,reflect the adopted action plan? Whatwere the results of your profit estimateslast year in light of the difficulties wit-nessed by the petrochemical market?

EQUATE realized quarterly profitsthroughout 2001. The profits were a re-sult of the high production and salesrecords of chemicals and plastics, whichreached about one million tons. As for theyear 2002, despite the adverse economicconditions experienced by most markets,we were able to market all our productsas planned. The profits were less than theexpected estimated figures for the 2002budget due to a decrease in the price ofpetrochemicals. The profits for this quar-ter/ year? are scheduled to be announcedafter the General Assembly Meeting.

What are EQUATE’s superiorproduction and marketing services andhow do they qualify the Company to be

Al-Terkeit:“We are proud of KPC’s

support and cooperation.”

Al-Terkeit highlights thesecrets of success: pre-

planning, goodmanagement, incentives,decentralised decision-making and reduced

bureaucracy.

Hamad Al-Terkeit

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an international competitor?

The Company’s performance has beenoutstanding in production, sales, occupa-tional safety and security, environment andmost importantly, finance. However, sinceour inauguration in 1997,we have not al-lowed ourselves to become complacent.Instead, we have proceeded to accomplishgreater goals. We strive to maintain a com-petitive stance, similar to that of a personrunning on a treadmill. If one allows one-self to slow down, the treadmill throws oneback. Therefore, we continuously keep aneye on the market in order to take the mar-keting decisions in a proactive manner.Our marketing offices in Asia and Europeare linked to the main office’s network inKuwait and we are always in contact withour customers. We pay great attention tothe service we provide as well as to theafter sales service, which has providedEQUATE with an excellent reputationwithin the world market. This has meantthat the Company was able to market itsproducts, despite low demand, withoutreducing the price. Profits were thereforeable to be realised. EQUATE shapes itsstrategies according to global competitionand seeks to cut down costs in order toachieve competitive prices. The successof these strategies will ultimately lead tohigher dividends among shareholders.

Petrochemicals …

in the Region, the World

What do you think the future holdsfor the petrochemical industry in Ku-wait in relation to the Gulf Region andthe world?

* The Company has helped increasethe level of added value in the local mar-ket. There are 12 local industrial compa-nies that rely on EQUATE’s products, par-ticularly plastics which were previouslyimported. This is part of our downstreamactivities. As for our upstream activities,we have plans to increase production.However, this always depends on theavailability of ethane gas, as it is the mainsource for any future expansion in thisfield. I would like to take this opportunityto praise the role of KPC and its subsid-iary companies, KNPC and PIC. We areproud of the support and cooperation we

receive from the Companies’ manage-ments.

On a global level, the petrochemi-cal industry is the future. The Arabian Gulfcountries in particular and the Arab Worldin general, will be the main source for pet-rochemicals and chemicals. This is due tothe fact that petrochemical production ismore costly in North America and Europe;furthermore these areas lack the necessarycatalyst for production.

What is the current situation re-garding your target markets and whatare your future plans?

The current markets are constantlydeveloping. In fact, world economicgrowth has a great impact on the demandfor petrochemicals. The general outlookfor 2003 seems to indicate higher demandsdue to an expected world economic growthin the second quarter of the year.

In 2002, EQUATE was funded byleading foreign and local financial in-stitutions for the third consecutive time.This is a sign that the Company hasgained the trust of institutions world-wide. Are there other similar financingprojects in the near future?

EQUATE was established with a hugeloan of US$ 1.350 million (one billionthree hundred and fifty million US dol-lars). This loan was the first of its kind inthe area in terms of both volume and struc-ture. It was also the first time that an Is-lamic financing institute was involved ina project besides traditional financing es-tablishments. This initiative has encour-aged other companies in the region to fundmajor projects in a similar manner.

The Company has been refinancedtwice since the initial stage. By doing this,the loan structure became suitable for theCompany’s current position as that of ahigh performer.

As for future financing projects, itwill depend on the Company’s future ex-pansion plans. There is no intention forthe time being to refinance EQUATE . Thestructure in place at the moment is quitesufficient for the current stage and on easyterms?, which will enable the Companyto steadily achieve further success.

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The Kuwait Aviation Fuelling Com-pany (KAFCO), a KPC subsidiary, is re-garded as one of the leading companiesin this area. This has been reiterated byKAFCO winning an updated version ofISO 9001:2000 in the field of aircraft

Kuwait Aviation Fuelling Company (KAFCO)Wins ISO 9001:2000 Certificate

refuelling. Such an accomplishment is a vi-tal steppingstone for the Company in that ithighlights the progression towards outstand-ing performance.

The Company obtained the certificateafter the Canadian Board of Excellence,

QMI-Canada, carried out a meticuloustwo-day inspection. The Board then con-firmed that the Company consistently ap-plied the ISO system in all areas and ac-tivities.

The certificate was presented to Mr.Saad Abdulwahab Al-Saad, Chairman ofthe Board of Directors and Director-Gen-eral, at a special ceremony by the Indus-trial and Management Systems Companythat helped KAFCO apply the ISO sys-tem. The Deputy Director-General of theCompany and the Departmental Manag-ers also attended. It is worth observingthat KAFCO is the third company in theoil sector to win an international ISO cer-tificate.

Mr. Al-Saad expressed his confidencethat this would help to strengthen theCompany’s competitiveness in the region,boost clients’ confidence in KAFCO’sservices and enhance the service offeredby the Company to international airlinecompanies.

A high ranking International Marketingdelegation headed by Faisal Al-Mudaff, Ex-ecutive Assistant Managing Director Sup-ply, took part in the activities of the annualInstitute of Petroleum Week (IP Week) Con-ference which was held in London.

IP Week is considered the focal annualmeeting of international oil and gas indus-try professionals and one of the oil eventsthe International Marketing Sector unfail-

International Marketing Participatesin Energy Week

ingly participates in annually. It provides thesector with a great networking opportuni-ties, a forum to meet with experts and achance to hear renowned speakers give theirviews on the future of oil and gas. This pro-vides KPC with the opportunity to find outwhat is happening in the market, to formopinions and make invaluable business con-tacts.

As its annual custom, KPC London Of-

fice held a reception party on the sidelinesof the conference, to which participants inthe conference were invited. Mr. Waleed Al-Hashash, Manager London Office, said thatthe aim of holding the party was primarilyto strengthen the Corporation’s relationshipwith clients, as the secret of any successfulwork in competitive markets is the existenceof strong and good relations between the twosides.

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Since its establishment in 1977, theSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) hasdeveloped into one of the largest special-ized societies in the fields hydrocarbon,exploration, development and production,providing its members with the sum ofaccumulated experiences and keepingthem abreast of emerging technologiesand the latest innovations in oil explora-tion and production. Presently, SPEboasts around 55,000 members represent-ing more than 60 countries who share, asa common goal, the advancement of theoil and gas industry. In view of theSociety’s size and importance, it is asource of pride to Kuwait that its MiddleEast Regional Director Mr. Abdul HusseinShehab, Executive Assistant ManagingDirector (West Kuwait) Kuwait Oil Com-pany, is a Kuwaiti national. Mr. Shehabacts as coordinator between its 4000 mem-bers in the Middle East and the Board ofDirectors located in Dallas, USA. He alsoassists in organizing the different societymeetings held in this region. KPC Worldmet Mr. Shehab in order to provide read-ers with a comprehensive idea about the

By: Sheikha Al-Tourah

society, the services it offers and the re-sponsibilities he shoulders.

Can you elaborate on the role SPEplays?

SPE is non- profit organization offer-ing comprehensive services for petroleumengineers working in all fields of the oilindustry. Contrary to what is widely be-lieved, membership in the SPE is not re-stricted to petroleum engineers but extendsto include geologists, researches etc. SPEoffers its services to many different regionsof the world. The headquarters of thesociety is located in Dallas, USA. It ismanaged by a Board of Directors (AllVolunteers) and has Regional Managers,like myself, who represent a group of re-gions and countries and whose role is tocoordinate between the members and or-ganize the various workshops and periodi-cal meetings. The Board of Directorsmeets three times yearly. One of thesemeetings is normally held in the UnitedStates and the rest are held in other partsof the world.

I represent 18 countries and about4000 members in the Middle East Region.The objective of SPE is to provide keysolutions to exploration and productionproblems or needs, through the industry’smost comprehensive collection of techni-cal data. Members have at their immedi-ate disposal a wealth of knowledge, provenproducts and resources.

As a Board Member and RegionalDirector, what are the tasks assigned toyou?

As the Regional Director my job is topromote technical activities using the re-sources of SPE for the benefit of the mem-bers. I organize specific tech conferencesand show as necessary that solve commonproblems experienced in the region. I en-

deavour to provide members with any in-formation they might need. Thanks to thedevelopment of communication and infor-mation systems, such as the Internet, co-ordination between the members has be-come much easier. We hold regular meet-ings and workshops in addition to sidemeetings in the specialized conferencessuch as the “MEOS” Conference held inBahrain and the Annual Technical Con-ference & Exhibition (ATCE). I aspire toattract more members to join the SPE’ssubcommittees and benefit from the avail-able services.

What are the services offered bythe SPE?

SPE can aptly be described as databank. Its motto is to “provide the rightinformation for the right person in the rightmanner at the right time”. Its Internet site(www.spe.org) data archive contains morethan 30,000 technical, scientific, special-

Abdul Hussain Shehab, SPE Board MembersMiddle East Regional Director

“The Society is a comprehensivedata bank for all interested

in the oil industry”

SPE canaptly be described

as data bank.Its motto

is to providethe right information

for the rightperson in theright manner

at the right timeAbdul Hussain Shehab

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ized papers and publishes about 2000 pa-pers every year. It provides members withfingertip access to the latest technologi-cal advances. Also on offer are onlinetraining courses, SPE Online-LinkingPeople and Technology; SPE Publications-Technology; SPE Meetings-Face to Face;and SPE Sections-Networking andKnowledge. Through its web site, SPEprovides its members with opportunitiesto attend, whether personally or via videoconferencing, specialized regional and in-ternational conferences dealing with rel-evant subjects. There is also a special sec-tion for students and researchers from dif-ferent universities to help them with theirresearch needs. SPE has allocated budgetof $10 million annually to developSPE.Org. to provide information servicesfor its members. Members can access spe-cialized information dealing, for example,with hard reservoirs or horizontal drillingas lack of such experience may result in acountry losing considerable amounts ofmoney. Since the SPE has among its mem-bers a number of experts in these fields,there is a good chance of experience ex-change occurring and this is an essentialfactor in the oil industry.

Besides meetings and conferences,every year the society holds a number ofspecialized workshops, which deal withone specific subject. Normally, the num-ber of attendees does not exceed 75 or 100so that maximum benefit can be gainedfrom these discussions.

The Society has a main publicationcalled the Journal of Petroleum Technol-ogy (JPT), which includes specialized ar-ticles and important research.

You said that this is a non-profitSociety, so how does it get the necessaryfinances for its extensive services?

SPE depends primarily on privatedonations and support. Membershipfees and advertisement revenues fromJPT constitute another financial re-source of the SPE. The Society has aspecial financial fund supervised bythe Board of Directors.

What are SPE’s key accom-plishments in the Middle East Re-gion?

The most noteworthy achievementwas holding the Board of Directors’meeting in the Arabian Gulf Area, inMarch 2002 in Abu Dhabi. We havealso been able to increase the Gulfcountries presence on the Board. Inlight of the importance of the ArabianGulf as a major oil producer, and dueto the fact that most of the world oilreserves exist in this area, we re-quested that the Board of Directors toinclude more Directors on the Boardto facilitate an increase in Arab andGulf representation. We have beensuccessful in this mission and two newpositions were added: a position fora Technical Director and another fora Director at Large in addition to myposition as a Regional Director. Weare also striving to create a liaison of-fice in this region. SPE has a numberof liaison offices in the United States,London, and Kuala Lumpur, Malay-sia. The society established an officein the Middle East, which will be lo-cated in Dubai, to facilitate coordina-tion and reduce the burden shoulderedby other offices. Establishing an of-fice in the area will be a great step for-ward in helping the Society respondto the members’ needs as efficientlyand effectively as possible.

KPC plays a pivotal role in the world due to itshuge hydrocarbon reserves and high oil, gas refined andchemical production capacities. This role will get evenmore important and critical in the future because of theprojected high demand for oil and gas. Currently, theworld consumption is 75 million bpd and it is expectedto increase to 90 million bpd in 2010. Since KPC willplay a major role in providing a sizeable productionshare, so it is obvious that strategies and plans have de-mands, changes and challenges. Some of the criticalchallenges are reducing the cost of operation, trainingand development of the manpower, carrying out soundHSE principles and replacing the depleted reserves.

The development of manpower at all levels: staff,managers, and leadership, is of prime importance. Ourindustry has to be prepared for employing the increas-ing number of technical and non-technical manpowerto be able to meet the work demand by deploying ap-propriate training so that they can be absorbed in theworkforce to deliver timely results. The new and olderemployees are and will remain challenged to use thenew technologies in reservoir development and surfacefacilities to be able to reduce the cost of operation, whichis expected to increase dramatically with time. Theseinclude new seismic activities, intelligent wells, hori-zontal, multi section and long reach wells and reservoirstimulation.

The increase in operation cost will be caused bythe reservoirs getting older, increase in water produc-tion, need to drill more infill vertical and horizontal wellsand introduction of water and or/gas injection.

Additionally, Kuwait and the rest of the Middle Eastcountries are embarking on construction of huge pro-duction, refining, petrochemical, transport facilities,drilling of huge number of wells and working on oldwells. These operations will cost tens if not billions ofdollars. As a result, the oil industry’s manpower willneed huge technical expertise to be able to handle theseactivities. For example, a reduction in oil field develop-ment cost of %5 a year would represent $ 5 billion incapital saving.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is onesuch organization, which is devoted for the technical,transfer of knowledge to its members all over the world.It has over 55,000 members in 60 countries, more than150 sections and 100 student chapters. It has offices inDallas (the base), Houston and Kula Lumpur. A newoffice will be established in the Middle East in the verynear future.

As Regional Director for the Middle East in theBoard of SPE, my job is to promote technical activitiesusing the resources of SPE for the benefit of MiddleEast members and carrying out specific tech conferencesand shows, which solve the problems seen mostly inour region. The latest means for the transfer for tech-nology is using the Internet (SPE.org) whereby the en-gineers have access to publications (over 300,000pages), SPE library, tech groups and training courses.SPE tries to provide the right information, to the rightperson in the right time and in the right form.

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Challengesfor the Future

We are not half waythere yet

By: Abdul Hussain Shehab

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Manager KOC Office in LondonAbdullah Al-Abdul Razzak:

“The office explores the worldmarket, keeps an eye on its

developments”

KPC World is eager to introduce KPC’s various subsidiaries and to draw media attention tothe importance of their activities worldwide. This policy is authorised by Sheikh Talal Al-KhalidAl-Sabah, Executive Assistant Managing Director Corporate Projects, Government and Parlia-ment Relations and Media who wishes to promote the efforts of KPC’s staff.

He has therefore directed that a clear picture of the contributions and progress made byKPC’s staff should be presented. KPC World Magazine visited KOC’s London office and inter-viewed its Director, Abdullah Al-Abdul Razzak, who has spent fifteen years at the helm. Hismanagement style has ensured that KOC’s London office ranks among the foremost offices ofleading oil companies.

Mr. Abdul Al-Razzak spoke to KPC World about the office’s role and his personal experi-ence in London.

By Haya Al-Randi

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First of all, can you tell us aboutyour career at KOC?

I joined KOC in 1979. In 1980, Imoved to the London office’s PurchasingDepartment. I held several positions thereranging from Recruitment Supervisor toTraining and Accountant Supervisor be-fore I became head of the office in 1987,a post which I have held since then. Likeany other staff member at KOC, I haveparticipated in many training courses andattended many conferences, but most ofmy work experience has been gained “onthe job”. Currently, I am the only Kuwaitinational at the office.

What are the functions of the KOCoffice in London?

The London office’s activities reflectKOC’s activities in Kuwait. Most of theseare administrative and include procure-ment of spare parts and equipment, whichconstitute an important portion of our busi-ness.

The office also engages in many othervital activities such as monitoring devel-opments in the London oil market - aninternational oil market centre - as well asreviewing any changes.

The office also provides servicesneeded by KOC. An example of this is therecruitment of skilled professionals like en-vironmental engineers, who are unavail-able in Kuwait. This requires close con-tact with a wide range of well-experiencedindividuals.

Although KOC has signed agreementswith international companies such as BP,EFL and Chevron to obtain technical sup-port and provide experts, we are still inneed of specialists in certain fields.

The office is also concerned with train-ing, as we are part of KOC’s training pro-gram and career development. Most of thetraining courses conducted by KOC for itsstaff members outside Kuwait are held herein the London office. Such courses are of

great benefit to KOC. We also make book-ings and organize venues for symposiumsand conferences.

In addition, the office provides KOCwith the necessary information on procure-ments, information technology, and mar-ket requirements. The importance of thistask becomes evident in cases of emer-gency since necessary parts can be securedpromptly.

One of the landmarks in the history ofthis office was the central role it playedduring the invasion. Highly qualified firefighters were trained and briefed through-out the liberation period enabling them tostart work immediately. They provided notonly contractual information but also ma-terials for the recovery project. Anothermajor task of the office is the health care.Al-Ahmadi Hospital currently provideshealth services for the entire oil sector andis also responsible for sending patientsabroad for treatment. The Health Officehere organizes and provides bookings, ac-commodation and medical purchases.

Furthermore, KOC employees arrivingin London often need assistance. We ar-range meetings for them, provide fully-equipped meeting rooms and assign themsecretaries. We prefer this to holding meet-ings in hotels or at the offices of other com-panies. From a public relation perspectivethis is very important for KOC’s globalposition.

There are other matters which fall be-yond our scope of work such as followingup KOC’s compensation services and allrelated paperwork.?? When inspectorsneed information, we provide it for themimmediately. We now provide this serviceon behalf of Kuwait National PetroleumCompany (KNPC) and Petrochemical In-dustries Company (PIC).

What is the coordination mechanismbetween your office and other Kuwaitioil companies’ offices in London?

The coordination between us and ourcolleagues in other offices is on a largescale. We always discuss ways of integrat-ing common matters, such as consolidat-ing accounts.

In the past, each company had its sepa-rate office but now we work under oneroof, which reduces expenditure and in-creases the level of cooperation and coor-

Abdullah Al-Abdul Razzak

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dination. We also currently share a networkand a reception area.

Do you believe it necessary to have alarge base of employees who are Kuwaitinationals in the regional offices?

According to Kuwaiti law, our localrecruitment should comprise at least 70%Kuwaiti nationals. However, the presenceof Kuwaitis in the overseas offices in man-agement roles is also important. For ex-ample, one can see that all the Japanesecompanies in London are managed byJapanese.

How do you find your work in Lon-don and your stay away from Kuwaitfor long periods?

London is a major city and lies at theheart of Europe. It has well known finan-cial centres and this helps create a solidbase for business. As far as my work isconcerned, my presence here is decided bythe Company due to my qualifications andexperience. KOC adopts a very thoroughpolicy as regards this matter. When a staffmember is changed, due consideration isgiven to whether the new one has the ex-perience and ability to remain. Some staffmembers may stay two, five or even tenyears. This depends on personal and so-cial factors, such as the presence of chil-dren and their educational needs.

I personally am not experiencing anyproblems, but if I had the choice, I wouldhave returned to Kuwait five years ago. Butafter spending five years here, it seemedthat I had reached a point of no-return. Godwilling, the newly qualified generation ofemployees will further develop the officein order to cope with KOC’s aspirationsand future goals.

What is the significance of such of-fices for oil companies?

I believe that the role played by for-eign offices is very important. Althoughthe revolution in communications has cre-ated a global village allowing a great dealof business and agreements to be madefrom Kuwait,there is still a need for hu-man interaction. Customers like our pres-ence here, because it solves many prob-lems. It also creates intimate relationships,which in turn lead to great business rela-tionships. Sitting face to face with the cus-

tomer and discussing matters daily hasgreat importance and constitutes a mainsource for identifying his future needs.Personal relationships play an importantrole and are a key aspect of foreign offices.

The location of the office in an inter-national oil market centre ensures closefollow up of market changes as well asquick action instead of relying on infor-mation provided the media, which may notbe accurate.

All these are important issues in termsof market strategy. Also in emergencycases, matters require quick reactions. InLondon, we can go to other companies’offices and ask them for what we need.

Despite the fact that business is donewith 21st century technology, human re-lations have not really changed since theStone Age. We have proven our success inthis vital area.

The foreign office gives an excellentimage and international position. KOC andKPC’s offices currently enjoy a good repu-tation. This is apparent from the great re-spect we receive from invited customers.

Finally, what advice would you liketo give to oil sector staff in Kuwait?

I would like to thank you for takingthe initiative to convey the real image ofthe regional offices since many employ-ees do not know about the role they playand their importance. I would also like toexpress my appreciation in introducing usto our colleagues in Kuwait.

It is worth mentioning that the Infor-mation Bureau at the Kuwait Embassy al-ways thanks us for the publications andpamphlets we produce that deal with im-portant Kuwaiti matters such as the envi-ronment and pollution. There are alsomany universities, institutes and compa-nies that ask for information and publica-tions regarding Kuwait, its oil, the oil wellfires and KOC.

I believe that the power of any com-pany stems from its workforce. Some maythink that KOC’s power is due to its oilassets, but I would like to refute that andinstead say that its power resides in its greatexperience and highly trained staff. Thesefactors give KOC the impetus to achievegreat things in the future not only for theoil sector but also for our beloved country.

The power of anycompany stems from itsworkforce. Some may

think that KOC’s power isdue to its oil assets, but Iwould like to refute thatand instead say that its

power resides in its greatexperience and highly

trained staff

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Conqord Oil was established on 9th ofMay 1933. The ROLOIL brand waslaunched on the Italian market in the sameyear. Over the past 70 years, ROLOIL hasgradually increased its share in the Italianmarket. Today, its market share is 7%, mak-ing it an important player. (Conqord Oil rep-resents 10% of the Italian market)

To mark the occasion, KPIL organizedspecial events and conventions in threebeautiful areas of Italy:

* Caserta, near the city of Naples, whichacts as the main base for the Central-South-ern Sales force.

* The hills of Bologna for the Central-Northern Sales force.

* Stresa, a town that lies on the banksof Lake Maggiore near the Swiss-Italianborder, for the Northern Sales force.

The conventions provided valuable oc-casions for meetings between the manage-ment of KPIL and the sales forces. Manag-ing Director Mr. Alessandro Gilotti repre-sented KPIL, whilst Managing Director Mr.Giancarlo Zanoni represented Conqord Oil.More than 350 sales agents and 50 sales

Q8OILS IN ITALY:

A YOUNG & INNOVATIVECOMPANY WITH 70 YEARS

OF HISTORYKuwait Petroleum International (KPI), a KPC subsidiary, recently celebrated

the 70th anniversary of its company Conqord Oil based in Italy. The company ismanaged by Kuwait Petroleum International Lubricants (KPIL). Conqord Oil isconsidered to be one of the largest producers of lubricants in Italy. It producesand sells over 50,000 m3 of lubricants (for automotive and industrial uses) underthe brand names Q8Oils, ROLOIL and Q8Marine.

employees attended the events. 10 re-gional offices across the Italian penin-sula manage the work of the sales agentsand make up the crucial backbone ofthe company’s commercial structure.

KPIL considers the sales force net-work as the most important componentof the “secret” of the company’s suc-cess, particularly in respect to theachievements of the ROLOIL brandover the past seventy years.

Mr. Alessandro Gilotti, said in his

opening remarks “Seventy years old, but nosigns of aging.” The conventions includedpresentations and announcements about thecompany’s new developments. In their pre-sentations, Mr. Giancarlo Zanoni and Mr.Gianluca Fenaroli (the Sales Manager) fo-cused on the lubricants market and itstrends, and the various ways a company canmaintain its development and growth in anincreasingly competitive market.

The growth plans of Conqord Oil havegained fresh momentum due to the forma-tion of KPIL during the year 2000 and withthe development of a Dual-Brand-Manage-ment approach (Q8Oils and ROLOILbrands).

Q8Oils Agents Network was developedin a way that matched the success ofROLOIL’s Agents Network. It was an-nounced during the convention that Q8OilsAgents are expected to number 50 through-out Italy, with expected sales of around2,000 m3. The conventions were an appro-priate moment to introduce the new

ROLOIL Fuel Economy line of lubricants,both for cars (PCMO) and heavy-dutytrucks (HDDO). The Technical ManagerEng. Sergio Pollini explained to the audi-ence the technical qualities of thecompany’s lubricants and talked about thechallenge of meeting engine manufactur-ers’ standards and expectations.

Although KPIL has maintained its tra-ditions, it continues to modernize. As partof recent innovations, KPIL introduced thee-office concept. During the conventions,the web sites (www.ConqordOil.it,www.Roloil.it, www.Q8Oils.it) and e-of-

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fice were revealed for the first time. The ITprojects were developed and presented byMr. Meshari Al-Mahmoud (Products Devel-opments Manager) and Mr. Roberto Raggi(IT Responsible) who followed the projects’development every step of the way, frominception to conclusion.

The e-office system provides the salesforce with quick and easy access to infor-mation around the clock from a standardInternet point. Such information is vital tothe highly qualified sales force. The sys-tem is also interactive. Agents can place or-ders online and monitor the status of ordersin real-time. We are exceptionally proud ofthe e-office system, because it has been de-veloped and designed in-house.

A short film “ROLOIL: ExtraordinaryPassion” made by Conqord Oil, under thecareful direction of Mr. Giancarlo Zanoni,will document the 70th anniversary conven-tions. The film starts with the early days ofthe company, before progressing to the dra-matic destruction of the refinery in the bom-

bardments of the 2nd World War. KPI’s ac-quisition of ROLOIL in 1988 is then high-lighted, and finally today’s activities anddevelopments are detailed.

Conqord Oil continues to grow withunique style, and with the same passion thathas defined the past 70 years. Today, thereal force of Conqord Oil remains the menand women who constitute the company.Conqord Oil is a company made of peopleand moves forward only because of theirdevotion to their work.

KPIL (Kuwait Petroleum International Lubricants), through its Italian affili-ate Conqord Oil (KPIL-Italy), operates in Italy with the two brands Q8Oils andRoloil. Conqord Oil manages the production and sale of those two brands. ConqordOil started with the Roloil brand, and since 1999 manages the Q8Oils brand too.Conqord Oil is known for its highly specialised products, which are dedicated tothe world of the lubrication. Conqord Oil, relatively, big market share in the Ital-ian market confirms its high quality standard products. Conqord Oil is presentedin the Italian market through a multifaceted and well-organised sales structure;such as commercial agents and sales representatives, which are supported by re-gional offices across the Italian peninsula. Conqord Oil, by size, is the fourthplayer in the Italian market. The head office is located at Cologno Monzese (MI)and the blending and packaging plant - one of most efficient in Europe - is locatednear Alexandria in northwest Italy. KPIL operates within the international com-

pany: KPI (Kuwait Petroleum International). KPIL handles,approximately 1,600 lubricants. KPIL holds its own laborato-ries of research and development (KPR&T, Kuwait PetroleumResearch and Technology in Rotterdam). KPR&T working to-gether with the engine manufacturers have given our lubricantsthe highest level of quality. KPI with the head office in KuwaitCity and offices in London has been founded in 1983 as a sub-sidiary of the KPC (Kuwait Petroleum Corporation). KPI mainresponsibility is to manage the activities of refining andcommercialising oil products. Today KPI employs 5,000people, owns 2 refineries, 5 blending plants and over 5,500service stations, with a turnover of $3.5 billion per year. KPCis one of the largest oil companies in the world. Its crude oilnature is ideal for the manufacturing of high quality lubricants.With sales of over 60 million litres per day, its reserves areestimated to last for at least two more centuries.

Since Kuwait Petroleum International was formed in 1983,lubricants have played an important role in its business. Ku-wait Petroleum International Lubricants, operating under the

Q8Oils banner, is a significant player in European and international lubricantsmarkets.

With five lubricants blending plants, each sourcing basic raw materials fromKPI’s Europoort base oil refinery, Q8Oils oversees the development, production,distribution, sales and marketing of lubricants to all market sectors throughoutEurope and also exports worldwide.

Q8Oils markets directly in the Benelux countries, Denmark, France, Germany,Italy, Spain, and the UK, and exports direct to end consumers and through authoriseddistributors to over 75 countries worldwide. Activities in Sweden are managedthrough the OKQ8 joint venture, and in Thailand through Kuwait Petroleum Thai-land.

Kuwait Petroleum International Lubricants

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Submit your releases, news items, ideas for articles, attendances at conferences and symposiums, reports on

visiting dignitaries and letters, to the Editor-in-Chiefof KPC World

P.O.Box: 26565 Safat - 13126 KuwaitTel.: (965) 2400960 - Fax: (965) 2407872

Website: www.kpc.com.kwE-mail: media@kpc.com.kw

KPC’s vision is to become aregional leader in HSE performance