KUWAIT, March 22 (KUNA) -- Kuwait is expected to commence the import of liquefied natural gas through world companies from April 1st to late October at a rate of 500,000 cubic feet/day , Kuwait Petroleum Corporation CEO Saad Al-Shuwaib said here Monday.
The move aims to cover the country's local needs of electricity-generating energy in summer, Al-Shuwaib told KUNA following the inauguration of a conference on the treatment of oil lakes.
World companies usually import natural gas from several countries, as the corporation is now standing prepared for dealing with gas shipments to be imported, he added.
On an ecological fuel project to be executed by the Kuwait National Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, he said the corporation board of directors had already considered the project and would send it to the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) for further deliberations and then final approval.
He added that the fourth oil refinery project to be carried out by the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) for answering the country's local needs of oil required for power production, he said the project was going on as planned.
Concerning the conference on the treatment of oil lakes, he said the four-day gathering would focus on how to treat oil lakes in an appropriate environmental manner.
He noted that the KOC had done its best over the last couple of years to reach the best ways to treat oil lakes that cover 14,000 square kilometers in Kuwait.
For his part, Chairman of the Organizing Committee Khalid Al-Medhaf said Kuwaiti environment had been directly affected by oil fire that took place during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Oil leakage triggered off by fire, in addition to deliberately made leakage of oil pipelines in north, covers around 50 square kilometers in the form of oil lakes that posed a menace to subterranean water and species, he said.
Therefore, a relevant mechanism has been worked out for cooperation and coordination with the oil sector and other companies, mainly the Environment Public Authority and Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources, and the ministries of electricity, water and defense, he added.
Such a UN-backed mechanism is mainly meant to follow up on environmental rehabilitation programs and projects, he noted.
This scientific conference is a practical translation of this cooperation involving national, regional and international specialists and experts from the oil sector; aiming to share experience on how to treat oil pollution, he concluded. - Kuna