Van Oord Starts Work in Kuwait

The Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) awarded Van Oord a EUR 500 million (about $680 million) contract for land reclamation work in Kuwait in a ‘sabkha area’ (a salt plain near the coast) for the construction of a new refinery.

The new refinery project is situated south of Kuwait City. The refinery will produce 615000 barrels a day. The project is the first phase of KNPC’s $23 billion investment program for this new refinery.

“The Middle East has been very important to Van Oord for decades. We are pleased to continue working and strengthening our position in the area with this contract” CEO Pieter van Oord said.

Work on the project began in March and will be completed in 30 months. The project involves dredging and reclaiming some 65 million cubic meters (about 85 million cubic yards) of sand and executing extensive ground improvement. The project will also include building various channels a basin for a future jetty a barge dock and roads. Van Oord will deploy a large trailing suction hopper dredge and a cutter suction dredge for the project.