1st company in Gulf to publish sustainability report

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 17, (KUNA): The total value of projects set to be carried out by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) in the next five years hits around $5.2 billion, its CEO Mohammad Al-Mutairi said on Sunday. The aforementioned value excludes expenses for the company’s clean fuels project, which will push that figure up to $25 billion by the year 2040, he said on the sidelines of a ceremony to mark a decade after KNPC launched its sustainability program.

He labeled Kuwait’s planned Dibdibah solar power plant as among the company’s marquee projects, with 70 percent of expenses covered by foreign funds and 30 percent coming from domestic sources. Al-Mutairi put a two-year timeframe on the project, which is likely to boost Kuwait’s renewable energy to 160,000 barrels per day, citing plans to build a new refinery in the south of the country. “We were the first company in the Gulf region to publish a report over sustainability,” he revealed, saying that KNPC has set a benchmark in the oil and gas industries.

Sustainability reports help companies assess their level of commitment to legal, environmental and economic standards, KNPC’s Managing Director of Support Services Nasser Al-Shamma explained. He went on to say that several companies have started producing sustainability reports as well, following in KNPC’s footsteps.