KUWAIT - The Refineries.

To oversee its projects, KNPC invited seven international engineering companies to bid for a four-year management contract, and in January 1994 awarded the contract (KD20m) to Stone & Webster of the US. This was to draw up a list of prequalified companies, prepare tender documents, evaluate the cost of each project, and supervise the work. KNPC also has a KD17m five-year contract maintenance contract with the local Kuwait Industrial Refinery Maintenance & Engineering Co. (Kremenco), which took effect on Aug. 1, 1994.

Kremenco has worked for KNPC since 1987.

KPC now is considering construction of a fourth oil refinery in Kuwait, among new projects proposed.

Mina Al Ahmadi is the biggest refinery in Kuwait, with a capacity of more than 450,000 b/d. The plant can process over 460,000 b/d of crude oil. It was the least seriously damaged of the refineries in the Gulf crisis and war. It was the first to be brought back into operation. Two of its three distillation units, the fluid catalytic cracker, the vacuum re-run unit and the control room were all badly damaged. The catalytic reformer, the only one in Kuwait, was virtually destroyed.

Initial repairs were completed in early August 1991, when one of the plant's three crude distillation units started processing 110,000 b/d, less than one third of its pre-war capacity of 400,000 b/d. Capacity was raised progressively to 185,000 b/d. In early 1994 a second 110,000 b/d distillation unit came back on stream, boosting capacity to 295,000 b/d. The third distillation unit went back into operation in late June 1994.

The management and supervision of the reconstruction and upgrading was carried out by Foster Wheeler's UK unit under a contract given in February 1992. KNPC appointed Rendel Palmer & Tritton of the UK as its consultant to assess the viability of marine facilities and recommend measures to rehabilitate and improve them. All units rehabilitated, repaired or rebuilt turned out to be better than they were before Iraq's invasion, as in the case of the units at Mina Abdullah and Shuaiba. The following are the main units at Mina Ahmadi (capacities in '000 b/d):

Primary distillation           450
Catalytic hydrotreating         68
Catalytic hydrocracking         34
Catalytic reforming             33
Catalytic cracking              28
Residue desulphurisation       132

Central control was installed by the French firm Cegelec, under a KD25.8m contract signed in July 1993. Cegelec's work included the gas processing plant and installation of an operating system. Technipetrol of Italy in October 1998 won a $13.1m contract to revamp and upgrade instrumentation and control systems to allow introduction of new technology and software.

A $125m gasoil desulphurisation (GOD) plant to be built at Mina Al Ahmadi should be able to produce 70,000 b/d of 0.01 sulphur gasoil/diesel, as well as sulphur and aromatics.

The plant will use technology provided by Haldor Topsoe under a contract signed in November 1998. The project's consultant is Parsons. Nine international bidders from the main EPC contract were prequalified in early March 1999.

Projects for Mina Al Ahmadi, tendered in mid-1994 and awarded since, involve the following, with a 20,000 b/d merox plant yet to be tendered:

- Revamping the MTBE, alkylation and FCC units in one project called MAFP, which had been planned before Iraq's invasion. The work entailed refurbishing the existing units and construction of a new 1,300 b/d MTBE plant, a 4,500 b/d alkylation unit as well as spent acid regeneration and LPG pre-treatment units. The FCC expansion from 30,000 to 40,000 b/d was to provide feedstock for a polypropylene plant built for the PIC-Union Carbide petrochemical JV (Equate) which went on stream in 1997. The MAFP contract was awarded in late January 1995 to Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., whose bid submitted in October 1994 was the lowest at KD30.17m ($100.9m). The project was completed in late 1997.

- Installation of an acid gas removal plant to sweeten associated gas and condensate feedstocks supplied to the refinery by KOC. The work involved building new processing units with a capacity to handle 210 MCF/day of gas and 44,000 b/d of condensates. Feedstocks were to come from the gas gathering centres No. 27 and No. 28 in Minagish and Umm Gudair. A $135m contract for this project was awarded to Sunkyong Engineering and Construction of South Korea in September 1996.

A $100m project to upgrade export facilities at Mina Al Ahmadi is underway, with KNPC having prequalified international bidders in January 1999. This will involve renovating the north and south piers and building a replacement for the south pier (originally built in the 1940s) by 2002. Frederic R. Harris of the Netherlands was appointed as consultant for project in early 1997. Mouchel & Partners of Britain is the front-end engineering and design consultant.

Repair work is to keep the south pier operational until 2002 and the north pier operational for up to 15 years. The EPC contract is to be awarded by end- 1999.

The new facility to replace the south pier will be almost 2 km long with up to six births. It will handle a variety of products including gasoil/diesel, naphtha, kerosine, butane and propane. It will serve tankers of 60,000 to 300,000dwt.

Mina Abdullah refinery reached its pre-August 1990 capacity of 230,000 b/d in January 1993. Its capacity has since risen to reach 255,000 b/d at present.

After being damaged during the Gulf crisis and war, it was partially back on stream by end-1991, operating at a rate of 100,000 b/d.

It was the control room that suffered the greatest damage. In December 1992 KNPC gave a contract to the local firm Mohammed Abdulmohsin Kharafi for reconstruction of the central control unit. The work was completed in 1994. In October 1991, KNPC had awarded a two-year, KD3m contract for the maintenance of instruments and control systems to the local firm Instruments Installation & Maintenance Co. (Imco), which was the incumbent contractor for instrumentation at Mina Abdullah at the time of the Iraqi invasion.

Imco was given another contract in January 1993 for further electrical and instrumentation work at the plant. In February 1993 Noyes Engineering of Australia won a $15m contract for mechanical repair work, including at the coke handling unit.

The refinery's offshore loading facilities were rehabilitated by the third quarter of 1992, when repairs were completed to jetty No. 1, which handles tankers of up to 150,000dwt. The smaller No. 2 jetty was operating again by March 1992. In May 1993, a new SPM was installed at the terminal. The following are the main units at Mina Abdullah refinery (in '000 b/d):

Primary distillation            255
Vacuum distillation             104
Catalytic hydrotreating          73
Catalytic hydrocracking          34
Delayed coking                   30
Residue desulphurisation         88

In November 1993 KNPC invited international contractors to prequalify for an upgrading project at Mina Abdullah. This involved refurbishment of the steam system in order to increase steam supply capacity at a cost of $20m. The work was to involve installation of new boilers, associated facilities and the revamping of the control system. Mitsui Engineering & Construction Co. made the lowest bid in November 1994 for the EPC contract, which was to cover installation of the boilers and associated facilities. The project was to be

completed before end-1997. But the project was re-tendered and work was delayed.

In February 1999, KNPC prequalified three international firms to renovate the distillation unit: Costain Oil, Gas & Process (Overseas) of the UK, the Italian unit of Technip and Sunkyong of South Korea. The project was tendered earlier this month.

An annual contract to carry out routine civil, cabling and building work at the refinery was tendered last month. KNPC invited 52 companies to submit offers.

The Mina Abdullah refinery had been modernised, partly rebuilt and expanded by early 1989 at the cost of $2.2 bn. The project was inaugurated officially on Feb. 20, 1989. It was the last of three major refinery modernisation and upgrading projects under an eight-year programme in which KNPC had invested more than $5 bn. Work under that programme included the Shuaiba and Mina Ahmadi refineries. But the one for Mina Abdullah was by far the most expensive.