KUWAIT CITY, Feb 21: The Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) announced Monday the “complete” operation of the permanent facilities project to import liquefied natural gas in the Al-Zour oil complex. In a press statement, Acting CEO of KIPIC Waleed Al-Badr expressed his happiness with this strategic achievement for the State of Kuwait in general and for the oil sector in particular, which is the first of its kind locally and the largest in the world in terms of storage capacity, which was built in one phase. He explained that the project consists of eight tanks with a capacity of 225,000 cubic meters each, which is part of the long-term strategic directions of KPC until 2040, which aims to provide the country’s necessary current and future energy needs by providing optimal fuel economically and environmentally.

He stated that the project meets the needs of gas electric power stations to generate clean energy, especially during the summer at peak times, in addition to the needs of other natural gas consumers such as oil refineries and petrochemical industries projects, pointing out that the project has the ability to supply the local network with natural gas with a maximum capacity of 3000 billion units of British thermal energy per day. He praised those in charge of the project and its operation for their “colossal” efforts with the Korean alliance to reach this achievement, pointing out that the project was started in 2016 after contracting with an alliance consisting of three specialized Korean companies, namely Hyundai Engineering Co., Ltd., Hyundai Engineering and Construction and the Korea Gas Authority to implement the project, a total cost of about 2.93 billion US dollars.

He praised KIPIC’s efforts to ensure the continuity of work and operation on this project despite the great challenges it faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The operation of the first phase of the project began in July 2021 by connecting natural gas to the local gas network to the power stations, while the operation of the second phase of the project was completed last January., (KUNA)