A business facilitator and strategy enabler for Kuwait’s oil and gas sector

Kuwait

Dawoud Bahzad, acting executive director of Petroleum Research Centre – KISR (PRC), talks to The Energy Year about the centre’s role in the Kuwaiti oil and gas sector, how it is supporting the domestic hydrocarbons value chain and its contribution to Kuwait’s downstream. PRC is the petroleum research centre of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research.

Can you give us an overview of KISR’s journey, its footprint and the role that PRC has been playing since its establishment?
KISR was established in 1967 as part of the Concession Agreement with Arabian Oil Company to conduct applied research in the fields of petroleum, desert agriculture and marine biology.
Then, in 1981 it became an independent public authority assigned by the Kuwaiti government to conduct applied scientific research related to national industry, energy, and natural and food resources and to provide consultation to the government on technical issues and scientific research.
In 2000, the Petroleum Research Centre was inaugurated, starting its activities in our first building in Ahmadi City, and in 2015, we expanded to a new building in Ahmadi, which is logistically closer to KOC, KNPC and the other K-companies located in Ahmadi.
Since our inception, we have always been working side by side with the hydrocarbons industry, supporting both the K-companies and the private sector with a wide range of services. Our thinking has always been futuristic and detail-oriented, and our job is to better understand the oil sector to improve it and make projections higher and to provide the K-companies with research and technology that helps them reach their targets.
Throughout these years, we have become a reference research institute in the region, with top-notch researchers and 26 specialised laboratories, each one dedicated to a specific area, for example, petroleum refining processes, corrosion, petrochemicals and enhanced oil recovery.

Could you provide us with some further details about how you are supporting the domestic hydrocarbons value chain?
In PRC and KISR, we have a long history of diversified achievements in the transfer, adaptation and advancement of technologies related to oil production, refining and petrochemicals. We have a strong research team of over 120 chemists, geologists, and chemical and petroleum engineers with various specialisations related to oil and gas technologies. There are multiple ongoing programmes, from upstream to downstream, that we are carrying out.
The Improved Oil Recovery Program aims to increase production capacity and extend the viable lifespan of Kuwait’s oil reservoirs. The Optimization of Petroleum Refinery Processes Program converts poorer quality feedstock into cleaner fuels using less energy while minimising the impact on the environment.
The Corrosion Assessment and Mitigation Technologies Program improves the reliability of the Kuwaiti oil production facilities and refineries by assessing the structural integrity of the equipment in terms of corrosion and finding the best mitigation approaches to extend their longevity in service.
Finally, the Polymeric Product Enhancement and Customization Program develops new materials and enhances the performance of existing polymeric materials while exploring new applications that can be used for flooding for EOR purposes and the reinforcement of plastic pipes.

How would you assess PRC’s contribution to delivering extra value to the rising downstream sector in Kuwait?
We have 16 pilot plants which specifically serve the downstream segment. They are used for conducting studies to investigate the quality of the feedstock and the life cycle of the catalysts that are being used in downstream units. Light, medium, heavy or blended feedstocks are tested using different types of catalysts from different vendors with whom PRC has agreements in place.
Catalysts are a major focus area of our centre. These are of course used to produce fuels such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, fuel oil, and low sulphur fuel oil.
To give you a practical example, in one of our collaborations, downstream companies requested joint studies in the area of catalyst evaluation using different feedstocks. PRC started such studies and conducted all the necessary experimental works, identifying the best solutions for the downstream units. The results of these studies were very promising to provide solutions to extend the catalyst life cycle and to improve production.
Our objective has always been to co-ordinate our activities with downstream companies, specifically KNPC, helping them to reach their targets and execute their strategy, which aims to improve production both in terms of volume and quality. To do so, the sulphur content has to be zero, meeting the Environmental Public Authority’s requirements, and to achieve that, you have to follow a certain process with a certain feed and catalysts. This demands a lot of research studies.
The K-companies, specifically downstream companies, are always keen to invest in new technologies, but they have to be proofed and proven before being implemented, and this is another focus area of our tasks. Accordingly, PRC provides technical scientific support to downstream companies in troubleshooting, hydrodynamics research and process optimisation.
This requires more advanced techniques, including nuclear techniques such as gamma-ray dosimetry and computed tomography scans. These are increasingly used as reliable tools in a broad range of laboratories and industries, including oil and gas production sectors and petrochemical industries.
They are used for monitoring, online optimising and troubleshooting of industrial processes – particularly multi-phase systems – as well as scaling up equipment and studying hydrodynamics in the reactors. The technology is a unique instrument for visualising processes in real time, as well as exploring and addressing plant processes cost-effectively.
Through technical co-operation projects, PRC and the International Atomic Energy Agency have developed a great working relationship. The objective is to enhance the technical capacity of KISK and PRC for nuclear technology implementation in order to develop the nation’s ability to use this technology in a way that will sustainably meet the needs of the oil sector.
In sum, we are a key asset for the downstream sector, we have the pilots, the technology and the expertise, and PRC is providing the K-companies in the downstream with all the insights to make their projects successful and help them reach their targets.

How are your services distributed across the oil and gas sector, and what would you identify as PRC’s key strengths?
The distribution of PRC’s activities sees 40% belonging to oil production and 30% to petroleum refining, with refining capacity taking 20% and corrosion and petrochemicals both standing at 10%.
PRC started by focusing exclusively on the downstream, but then the country’s upstream had to address several challenges, including the water cut, the ageing nature of the fields and the type of crude present in the well cores, so we began delivering studies and conducting research for KOC. These services are now the order of the day.
We have helped KOC increase production rates and cost effectiveness while always keeping an eye on preserving the environment, for example, by presenting the K-companies with solutions to fight flaring and reduce the carbon footprint of their operations, including lowering the level of sulphur content from the products coming from the recently inaugurated Al Zour Refinery.
PRC is a well-recognised centre in the development of desulphurisation technology for ultra-low-sulphur diesel production, having contributed to the development of a new generation of gas oil desulphurisation catalysts and a methodology for evaluating catalyst performance to produce gas oil with sulphur content less than 10 ppm.
If we talk about PRC’s key strengths, in the upstream we have been successful in monitoring the water quality for oilfield injection systems to strengthen EOR. Furthermore, we have transferred and adapted technologies to fit the small- and large-scale steam injection plants in the JO [joint operations] at Wafra.
In the downstream, we have proved ourselves as a leading regional research centre for corrosion issues in the oil and gas industry. We also played a key role in the development of a national atmospheric corrosion map, which covers five commonly used metal alloys; advanced knowledge and operative protocols for the preventive treatment of corrosion; and a methodological assessment of the remaining life expectancy of KNPC refineries’ capital assets.

What is your policy in terms of partnerships and collaborations?
PRC has a wide network of partners, both local and international. These include K-companies; IOCs (Chevron and Shell) and oilfield service providers (Halliburton, SLB and Sinopec); universities and research centres (Gulf University, the Danish Technological Institute and the CNPC Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration); and also tech companies (UOP, which is a Honeywell company, and Criterion Catalysts and Technologies).
Last October, KISR signed a MoU with China Oilfield Services Limited Middle East to jointly establish an institute discussing the challenges and opportunities of heavy oil production and heavy oil development technology.
We are a strong promoter of co-operation among research institutions and services companies, and we believe that our role goes beyond conducting studies. KISR is the door through which the K-companies access the latest technologies.
We act as a business facilitator and a strategy enabler. We know exactly what the K-companies’ challenges are, their roadmap and their targets, as we were there when they were shaped. If anybody would like to do business with any of the K-companies, they need to go through us since we know what each of these companies might need.

What would you say are the most exciting fields within Kuwait’s oil and gas future, and what do you see ahead for PRC?
A thrilling field is CO2 capture, regarding which we have technology and knowledge, but its implementation in projects is taking a long time, as we are lagging behind on how to do it.
However, we are moving ahead by supporting KOC in building the required infrastructure. It is far more cost effective if we develop that infrastructure here with local capabilities than rely on third parties and outsourcing.
Another interesting area is water and steam injection for EOR. KOC has several projects, and we are helping them by investigating and studying the type of water that should be used for the injection, its bacteria content, how to safely dispose of the produced water, etc.
Finally, regarding PRC’s future, if we want to be a centre of excellence, that means we need to be involved in projects that can have a wide echo, locally and internationally, and showcase them via publications and patents.
We have nine registered patents in different areas, including in graphene, equipment and spring catalysts. We are currently discussing the latter with KNPC for a plant close to the Al Zour Complex. We would use the material from inside the catalysts (nickel and vanadium) for the fabrication of other materials and in manufacturing.
Ultimately, our work is already well-known internationally in certain fields, from corrosion to catalysts, but now we want to further penetrate the upstream side, dedicating human and capital resources to expand our reach and become a research leader in this area too, which will be increasingly important for the country’s future as well.

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