KNPC Clean Fuels Program

Client: Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC)

Location: Mina Abdullah, Kuwait

Business Segment: Energy Solutions

Industry: Fuels

Services: Engineering and DesignConstruction

Map showing the location of KNPC Clean Fuels Program

Executive Summary

A Fluor joint venture designed, constructed and commissioned the Mina Abdullah Package 2 (MAB2) Clean Fuels project for Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). The MAB2 package facility comprised a world-scale hydrogen plant (steam reformers), sulfur block (SWS, ARU, SRU) and utilities, off-sites and non-process buildings. It also covered modifications to the existing Mina Abdullah refinery units.

Client's Challenge

KNPC wanted to increase productivity at the facility while delivering products that complied with state-of-the-art environmental standards. KNPC's Clean Fuels project involved upgrading the Mina Abdullah and Mina Al Ahmadi refineries to increase capacity.

The project was executed on the three KNPC owned and operated refineries in Kuwait: Mina Al Ahmadi (MAA), Mina Abdullah (MAB) and Shuaiba (SHU), all within 10 kilometers of each other.

As part of the Clean Fuels project, KNPC planned the retirement of the processing facilities at SHU and a major upgrade/expansion of MAA and MAB to integrate the refining system into one complex with full conversion operation. Overall process capacity would increase from 736,000 BPSD (after SHU retirement) to 800,000 BPSD.

Fluor's Solution

Fluor and our joint venture partners executed the project in an integrated joint venture with our Amsterdam office as the lead office. Other Fluor offices performing substantial parts of the work were New Delhi, Al Khobar and Kuwait. Our Houston office performed the front-end engineering and design (FEED). This was Fluor's largest project under construction in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at the time.

We began detailed engineering and design in 2014. Construction began in January 2015, with a peak construction force of 12,000 on site.

Sourcing of materials and equipment was conducted on a global basis, while providing favorable opportunities for Kuwaiti and GCC companies to participate in the project.

Conclusion

In 2018, the American Society of Safety Engineers Kuwait Chapter awarded the project its 2018 Gold Award in HSE Excellence. The project had achieved 70 million work hours without a lost-time incident. The strong safety culture at site was achieved by active engagement at all levels of the organization and a relentless focus on risk identification and mitigation.

In November 2018, we announced the project's successful generation of first steam, a milestone marking the completion and turnover of the first utility units.

In August 2020, we announced that the joint venture successfully achieved final provisional turnover of the facilities. This significant milestone marked the completion and successful handover of MAB2 facilities to KNPC.

With the success of this project, Fluor continued our long-standing relationship with KNPC to increase the productivity of the facility, while adhering to stringent environmental standards.