The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), Kuwait National Focal Point (KNFP) and Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) cooperated in a joint project to undertake comprehensive and collaborative efforts to remediate 26 million m3 of contaminated soil that had resulted from the Gulf War. The damage caused by the war includes features such as wet and dry oil lakes, contaminated piles, coastal deposits, oil-filled trenches, and wellhead pits. This contaminated soil has altered the desert soil’s properties and ecological landscape, causing the deaths of plants and animals; the contamination has also penetrated deeper into the subsurface soil layers and threatened to pollute precious fresh-groundwater resources. UNCC initially recommended to construct engineered landfills to encompass the contaminated soil. KOC developed construction-type contracts on a re-measurable basis to construct 2 million cubic meters of landfill. Under the Kuwait Environmental Remediation Program (KERP), Kuwait Oil Company is fully responsible for planning and executing remediation and restoration projects in the KOC oil field areas. Moreover, KOC in conjunction with KNFP has obtained UNCC approval to revise the KERP program by incorporating the Total Remediation Strategy (TRS), which provides a number of tools to address the legacy of contamination. The TRS comprises various elements: Risk-Based Approach, Site Soil Characterization, Unexploded Ordnance Program, Remediation Treatment Technologies, and Sludge Disposal through Beneficial Reuse and Containment in engineered landfills of untreatable wastes. As part of the KERP, the Oil Lakes Remediation Project will be implemented within select areas in KOC’s operational South East Kuwait oil field. The Oil Lakes Remediation Project is the first project under KERP to utilize treatment processes to address the contaminated soil features. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate one such type of technology, known as bioremediation treatment for contaminated soil in there different zones in SEK area known as Zone 2, Zone 6, and Zone 7. The works are for three separate areas and each area contained approximately 170,000 tonnes of oil contaminated soil. The requirements of the contract are to excavate and treat oil contaminated soil to comply with remediation Target Criteria (RTC). Crude based material referred to as Layer 1 will be separated from contaminated soils and put into temporary storage for future re-use option. Oil impacted soil less than 7% TPH will be treated using bioremediation technique (refereed as layer 2). In addition, 500 tonnes of oil impacted soil between 7% and 10% TPH will be treated using enhanced bioremediation techniques for trial purpose only.

Primary Author / Conference Presenter:
Aisha Al-Baroud
Kuwait Oil Company
Ahmadi, Kuwait

Co-Authors:
Hussain Al-Kandari, Kuwait Oil Company; Alberto De La Roche, Kuwait Oil Company