Managing Kuwait Oil Fields Reconstruction Projects
Mehdi Adib, Bechtel Corporation
PMI Canada Proceedings, 1994, pp. 184-90
INTRODUCTION
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait took place in August of 1990 with the liberation in February 1991
following the Gulf War. Almost all of the country's oil production facilities suffered extensive
damage.
The Kuwait Oil Company's (KOC) oil field reconstruction project that was planned,
executed, and managed by Bechtel International was actually conceived in November 1990
in London, England. Planning and organizing the reconstruction of the oil facilities
continued throughout the war in London, Houston, San Francisco, Dubai, and Riyadh. This
was during the occupation but prior to the liberation. No one knew at that time what the
true magnitude of the work would be; however, some tasks could be identified and frontend planning and procurement for these tasks started immediately. The scope of the
restoration work was obviously increased tremendously by the damage incurred from the
oil field fires that started at the end of the war.
Bechtel project management personnel arrived in Kuwait on March 4, 1991, three
days after the allied troops had completed their initial sweep of Kuwait City. The main
objective of this team was to organize and manage the fire-fighting effort, This phase of
the project was named Al-Awada (Arabic for return).
The vivid scenes shown by the newspaper, magazine, and television reports came
alive for Bechtel project personnel. The days were dark with smoke from the fires blocking
the sun, oil droplets filled the air, clean water and sanitary systems were not working,
power plants were down, transportation was minimal as tires were a precious commodity,
and food was very scarce. Initial accommodation was in refurbished ship quarters and in
some vandalized apartment complexes without water and electricity, no more than a foam
mattress on the floor, and a long hike up a darkened staircase. In addition to these
problems, booby traps, land and water mines, unexploded shells and rockets, and other
ordnance had littered the country. The temperatures in summer consistently were above
50° C in shade (seldom below 37° C at night), exposing the people in the field to
temperatures of 55-58° C in many locations, and hotter nearer to the fires. Just providing
drinking water was a major undertaking. John Oakland, senior vice president of Bechtel
Corporation, who served as the manager of projects in Kuwait, remarked, "This campaign,
which was well covered by the international news media, was one of the most complex
engineering and construction efforts in history (1)". However, the following assignment,
which was the reconstruction of the Kuwait oil fields, was an even bigger and more
challenging task. The project management of the oil production facilities reconstruction,
which was named Al-Tameer (Arabic for rebuild), is the subject of this report.
Status of the Facilities
The state of the two million bpd oil export industry in Kuwait after the completion of
the fire-fighting effort was as follows:
 Six-hundred-forty-seven wells had burned in total, 751 wells were damaged.
 Twenty-six oil gathering, separation, and production centers were damaged or
totally destroyed.
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One marine export facility and its related single point mooring was totally destroyed,
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and the second marine export facility was partially damaged and out of commission.
The equivalent of ten million barrels of crude oil storage tankage had been
destroyed.
The Shuaiba refinery was totally destroyed.
A crude unit in the Mina Al Ahmadi Refinery was completely destroyed. The rest of
the refinery was partially damaged and the refinery was out of commission.
The Mina Abdullah Refinery was partially damaged and the units were not operable.
All communication towers and networks were destroyed.
Most of the working population had either fled or were in hiding.
AL-TAMEER PROJECT
After the successful completion of the fire-fighting effort, KOC invited Bechtel to present
its plan for the reconstruction of the oil fields production and exporting facilities damaged
during the war, starting work by November 1990. KOC's goal was to be able to produce 2
million bpd of oil by September 1992.
PLANNING AND ORGANIZATION
The planning and organizing effort for the Al-Tameer project started with the Bechtel team
that was already on-site as part of the Al-Awada project fire-fighting effort.
An organization totally different from the Al-Awada project was required to scope,
estimate, plan, execute, and turn over operational facilities to KOC. This organization had
to be self sufficient and be able to fully support and service a massive work force of more
than I6,000 people.
The main organization was divided into five main functions. One was to support KOC
is future five-year budget planning with identification, scoping, and planning future projects.
This was named KOC Major Projects Group. The other four groups consisted of:
 manager Al-Tameer projects, responsible for all planning and project management,
as well as engineering and procurement
 manager coordination, responsible for scheduling, cost control, estimating, project
reporting, public and community relations, and other relevant functions
 manager services, responsible for providing all the required support services for the
project team including explosive and ordnance demolition group
 manager operation, responsible for field execution of all the defined work.
A damage assessment and scoping team consisting of engineers, planners, and
estimators walked every foot of the oil fields production and ex-porting facilities preparing a
scope of work, cost estimate, a plan and schedule of work for each facility.
The planning was based on a back to front scheduling defining the dates and
production goals first, working backward to see when the drilling effort and facilities
reconstruction work had to start to meet this goal. This approach also determined the
required manpower and helped with direct hire and subcontracting plans.
The overall plan defined the sequence of the work and prioritized the resources to
make sure facilities with least damage were first priority for completion.
The master schedule was developed based on nine subproject organization work
breakdown structures (WBS):
 oil recovery
 tankage south
 North Kuwait
 pipelines/flowlines
 power, buildings, cathodic protection
 marine facilities
 desalters
 South gathering centers
 West gathering centers.
Each subproject having its task force, budget, schedule, and its priority on resources
identified was headed by a project manager. The Al-Tameer project organization chart is
shown in Figure 1.
The teams were integrated with available KOC personnel who performed some of
the project functions. Each subproject team was supported by local functional managers to
provide them with staff and resources to execute the work. The key driver behind the plan
was meeting the schedule and the production capacity.
Execution
The project execution consisted of three main functions: detail engineering, procurement,
and construction management.
Detail Engineering
Engineering and construction teams worked very closely during the planning phase to
determine the best and most expedient way of rebuilding some of the facilities. This close
collaboration continued until construction was complete.
More than 200 designers and engineers worked in the makeshift project offices at various
sites, with strong central support from a base that was set up in an old war-damaged girl's
school. This was later transferred to a newly constructed KOC engineering building.
Additionally, a team of more than 200 engineers from various Bechtel regional offices
worldwide provided continuous support and specialized expertise.
FIGURE 1 AL-TAMEER ORGANIZATION
The main deliverables of the engineering teams were construction drawings,
construction packages, and material requisitions and technical bid tabs. This effort was not
limited to ail production and exporting facilities; it included some of the necessary
infrastructure required for the day-to-day operation of KOC. Offices, warehouses, guest
houses, employees housing, roads, power, water, etc., were all part of the scope of the
work.
Because most of the original drawings and specifications were destroyed during the
war, field sketches and measurements had to be used. A total engineering effort of 450,000
hours resulted in 4,500 major drawings.
One totally new and fully modularized gathering facility (GC-17) was designed and
built in Houston, Texas, and shipped to the sites. Other facilities were designed for rebuild
based on their original concept, but modernized wherever possible. Some of the units were
very old and were upgraded with the more modern versions of the equipment available. A
more extensive use of distributed control systems and automation was one of the key areas
that was upgraded.
Procurement
The project procurement group was established in full force during the fire-fighting phase
of the project to provide resources for that very important effort. In the Al-Tameer phase
the team was further expanded to support the massive procurement and contracting effort
that was required to meet the target schedule. In addition, inventory control and
warehousing material were also part of the procurement team's area of responsibility.
The procurement team was also responsible for incorporating all the material into KOC
's automated material and inventory control system. The procurement effort driving the
execution phase was centralized, and it was divided into three main areas:
 material management
 contracts management
 warehouse management.
Material management included purchasing, inspection, expediting, and traffic and
logistics, Contracting included formation and administration. Warehouse management
included central warehouses and satellite ware-houses.
The procurement team had three main goals within the project's overall objective:
 ensure the right material and resources were available in time to meet the schedule
 maximize the use of available local resources to assist in rebuilding the local economy
 ensure sure final warehouse inventory met KOC's material coding and identification
system.
The size and the particular nature of the protect required that the procurement team
be divided between material management-reporting to the manager of projects-and
contracts management-reporting to the manager of construction. This arrangement
facilitated the communication and management of site contractors' work with Bechtel's
direct hire construction work.
Material Management
Project managers were responsible for development and processing of the material
requisitions for their areas of responsibility. Orders over $100,000 required further approval
by KOC's manager of the Al-Tameer project.
Almost everything required for the execution of the project had to be imported from
outside the country. At the early phases of the project the port facilities, custom facilities,
and other services required for the proper importation of goods and services were not
functioning. Bechtel established a staging area in Jebel Ali port of Dubai (UAE) to receive,
inspect, and accept material. Utilizing much smaller vessels and boats : Bechtel then
transported goods from Dubai to various Kuwait ports depending on availability and cargo
size. This plan also included most of the air freighted material.
Because timely delivery of the material was critical to meeting the project schedule, a
very detailed material requisitioning plan had to be developed identifying every required
detail. This plan was then incorporated into Bechtel's worldwide Procurement Tracking
System (PTS) that enabled all Bechtel offices to monitor and follow through each order until
it reached the site.
At later stages of the project when Kuwait ports and custom facilities be-came
functional the above arrangements were changed and everything was imported directly
into Kuwait. During this period more than 26,000 purchase orders were issued, and more
than 520,000 tons of material were imported utilizing 742 aircraft and sea-going vessels.
Warehousing Management |
One of the key activities of the warehousing management team was to incorporate the
variety of material that was left behind after the war and the fire-fighting phase with newly
ordered and engineering-specified material. Also, by continuously adjusting and monitoring
quantities and specifications they could respond very quickly to emergency and out-ofschedule circumstances.
The engineering and warehouse both utilized a common software (PCMC) to identify,
locate, and quantify most of the bulk material making sure that when the material was
required it would be made available immediately.
Contract Management
Although due to scheduled requirement reconstruction of some of the flow line, all of the
gathering centers and booster stations were performed by Bechtel direct hires, nevertheless
more than 300 major construction contracts and 650 equipment rental agreements were
issued by the contract management team during the Al-Tameer project phase.
The contract formulation team worked as a central group serving all subprojects. The
contract administration group managed the administration work more by function than by
area. Project managers were ultimately the responsible parties for the contractor work in
their areas, receiving the necessary support and services from these two centralized teams.
Construction Management
Al-Tameer was probably one of the most challenging construction projects ever managed by
Bechtel. The work required provision of labor, equipment, and support facilities in fifty-five
locations and in four different parts of the country—North fields, South (marine facilities and
refineries), West fields, and Burgan fields.
The work involved construction of drill pads; roads for heavy rig transportation; well
heads; flow lines; gathering centers; gas booster stations; oil storage tanks; water supply,
distribution and storage; and marine export terminal and loading facilities. In addition, KOC’s
own infrastructure—offices, housing, clubs and restaurants, warehouses and buildings,
telecommunication, etc.—had to be reconstructed.
Construction efforts were divided between direct hire construction and subcontracted
work. The total scope of work was divided into nine construction areas, each managed by a
field superintendent. Each superintendent was responsible for both direct hire execution as
well as field administration of the subcontractor’s scope of work within his area.
Construction superintendents were supported by the central construction group that was
the functional group supporting a project matrix team. Prioritization of resources and
construction equipment was one of the major functions of the central construction team.
Field construction teams were comprised of multinational forces (from thirty-six
countries) with totally different cultures, languages, and performance capabilities. Catering
and other cultural requirements had to be addressed to ensure each group could perform its
function satisfactorily.
Each task had to be “tailor made” to suit the team available. It was important that
planning of the manpower and resources take into consideration availability of the right
foreman and support group to be able to communicate and perform work with each team.
SUMMARY
Approximately 1,000,000 hours in the regional offices and 4,000,000 hours in Kuwait were
spent for project management/engineering/construction management during the first two
phases of this project. Field labor hours were 50,000,000.
These project manhours were spent within the following project schedule milestones:
 start of planning
November 1990
 start implementation in Kuwait
March 1991
 project completion
June 1993.
The sources of the project personnel were various. A total of 16,000 workers from
thirty-six countries on five continents were involved in this massive effort. The countries that
participated in the supply of manpower to this reconstruction included Kuwait, the United
States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Australia, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Ireland, New
Zealand, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yugoslavia, Colombia,
Indonesia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Afghanistan, the Philippines, India, Djibouti, Sri Lanka,
Somalia, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Pakistan, Trinidad, and Sierra Leone.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
 The work was conducted in fifty-five locations that included fields in the north of Kuwait
on the border with Iraq, west and south of Kuwait on the borders with Saudi Arabia and
Iraq, and in the refineries and loading facilities along the coast and offshore.
 Five hundred square miles of land were swept and cleared of unexploded ordnance.
More than 23,000 pieces of explosive devices were destroyed by explosive ordnance
disposal teams. Although all work areas were swept, the risk from undetectable
ordnance was ever present and some fatalities did occur.
 More than 26,000 purchase orders and 300 major construction contracts and 650
equipment rental agreements were awarded during Phases I and II of the project. (A
more normal project performed over the same time frame may have 4,000 to 6,000
purchase orders.)
 A complete communication system dedicated to the oil industry was installed that
included twenty-three satellite telephone systems, 4,500 telephones, and 2,000
portable radios.
 A twenty-four-hour health care and safety program was established that included two
helicopter medivac teams, a forty-bed hospital, a dental clinic, and a team of
approximately 100 professional medical personnel on duty at seven medical stations.
 More than 5,800 pieces of field operating equipment ranging from the larder bulldozers,
cranes, trucks, front-end loaders, and heavy industrial equipment to ambulances,
pickup trucks, cars, buses and other support vehicles were shipped to the job sites.
These pieces of equipment were purchased from twelve different countries.
 A total of 742 aircraft and sea-going vessels were deployed to ship more than 520,000
tons of equipment and material to Kuwait in support of this project.
 Six full-service dining halls with catering support staff provided about 3,500,000 meals
for the workers during the fire-fighting campaign and 10,000,000 meals during the
reconstruction phase. Menus were established to cater to the different ethnic
backgrounds.
 Provisions and housing for 12,000 manual and 2,000 non-manual employees were
provided. All of the members of project management and their support teams, over 200
design and engineering personnel and about 200 procurement, administration, and
subcontracts management teams, were resident in Kuwait.
 Construction of a number of permanent offices, workshops, warehouses, maintenance
shops, and housing complexes for KOC was completed at the same time.
 Fire-fighting efforts originally involved the four major international teams of Boots &
Coots, Red Adair, Safety Boss, and Wild Well Control. They were later joined by an
additional twenty-three teams from Kuwait, Iran, China, Hungary, Great Britain, France,
Canada, Romania, and Russia.
 Four hundred kilometers of water and oil pipelines were installed during fire-fighting
efforts. Water lines and pumping stations could deliver 25,000,000 gallons a day to fire
sites. Each of 360 lagoons was excavated, lined, and filled with 1,000,000 gallons of
water for use in fire-fighting.
 Drilling pads and access roads were constructed for 700 new and workover wells.
 Three-thousand kilometers of new flowlines were constructed.
 One-thousand kilometers of new and refurbished pipelines were installed.
 Fifteen crude gathering centers, including a totally new and modularized early
production facility, were assessed, designed, and constructed.
 Three gas booster stations were constructed
 Restoration and reconstruction of the marine loading terminals, offshore terminals, and
SPM were completed.
 Construction of more than 10,000,000 barrels of new crude oil storage tankage was
managed.
 Restoration of overhead and underground electrical power transmission and
distribution system and cathodic protection system within the oil fields was completed.
 Construction/repair and operation of water systems (fresh, brackish, and salt water)
were completed.
 Construction-and operation of oil recovery systems and facilities that collected and
treated more than 25,000,000 barrels of weathered crude were completed.
Key Milestones
Some of the more notable milestones in the program were:
 The last fire was extinguished and the well was caped on November 6, 1991, eight
months after the arrival of the first Bechtel team on-site.
 The first postwar oil was pumped from two of the original gathering centers on May 26,
1991.
 By December 1991, more than 400,000 barrels of oil per day being produced from the
rehabilitated facilities.
 By April 1993, more than 11,000,000 barrels of weathered crude had been reclaimed
from oil pits and lakes, and processed through the field treatment centers and the
refinery.
 By the end of June 1993, eighteen of the original centers were back in operation, with
all production goals achieved as scheduled.
References
1. Oakland, J.A. Lee 1994. “Al- Tameer: The Reconstruction of Kuwait.” PM Network.
May, pp.14-21.
Study Questions
MANAGING Kuwait OIL Fields RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
1. This project was a major undertaking. The challenges it faced ranged from providing
the basics for being able to live in the desert (water and shelter) to finding creative
methods for getting imports into the country through nontraditional routes. From the
author’s point of view, the project went rather smoothly. To which factors do you
attribute the success of this project?
2. This case describes an enormous undertaking made up of many different projects.
Which of these projects can be considered the most important? Why?
3. One of the regular outputs of the development of the project plan is the work
breakdown structure. Define the work breakdown structure and its benefits.
4. How were the multinational relationships handled in this project?
5. This project was handled by the Bechtel Corporation, a private company, and not the
Kuwaiti government. List some of the advantages to this project being handled
privately and not publicly.
6. Figure 1 shows the organization chart of the Al-Tameer project. What kind of
organization does this represent?
Analyze this case and answer questions mentioned at the end of the case. Submit the same
on or before 29th June. You can do this assignment individually or in a group of two max.